King and Lionheart
by TanuSherry
Summary: Set a year after the events in China, Jake finally sets out to work with the D.S.O in order to become Sherry's partner in the field, but can he get through the training the D.S.O has in store for him first, or will a mysterious outbreak in Africa ruin it all?
1. Chapter 1

It was around 3 AM when the thunder rumbling outside Sherry Birkin's apartment finally woke her up. The weather had been especially stormy as of late, leaving the days dark and dreary, to her dismay. The 27 year old never could get used to storms, they often knocked the power out in her small apartment, leaving her alone in the dark with nothing but her thoughts, which she never liked dwelling on too much.

Though, she was thankful for the thunder this particular night. She was having an especially nasty nightmare which was only getting worse; that September night in Raccoon City when she had lost her parents and everything she had ever known. Though, her nightmares were always of Raccoon. No, what made tonight's even worse was that she was her 27 year old self in Raccoon - no Claire or Leon - she was completely defenseless against the hundreds upon hundreds of zombies that roamed the streets. She immediately turned and ran in the direction of a road that seemed relatively empty, but zombies would always appear and block her way, like an almighty impassible wall. Though, as she approached the impassible hoard, they started to part, to make way for something.. something Sherry couldn't quite make out until it was too late. The big and bad Ustanak was as terrifying as Sherry could remember and her nightmare made him all too real to bare. Her legs instantly betrayed her by not allowing her to move an inch, trapped in Ustanak's charge. The thunder jolted her awake just as she was about to be torn to pieces by his chainsaw for an arm - which she silently thanked the thunder for.

She was shaking and couldn't quite control her loud gasps for air, and the even louder pelting of the heavy rain against the window was a clear indication that she wasn't going to be sleeping until either she calmed down, or the storm did. She was about to hop out of bed to splash some water on her face when she felt a stir in the bed. Glancing to her right, she couldn't help but smile at Jake Muller's loud yawn and how he readjusted the blankets to cover his bare chest. She was glad she hadn't woken him up, her nightmares were so frequent that she felt bad when Jake had to nearly be up at all hours holding her, reminding her every time that nightmares couldn't ever hurt her - that he wouldn't let anything hurt her, and she knew he really meant that. She was a little surprised when the thunder hadn't woken him though, but she remembered that Jake was a pretty heavy sleeper, and that she was the exact opposite.

She gently reminded herself of what Jake would tell her every time she woke up breathless from a nightmare, and with that, cuddled close to him and tried to ignore the raging storm outside, gently kissing Jake's chest, quietly thanking him in her own way. Yes, she was grateful that Jake was here with her. It had been nearly a year since they had returned from China, and thanks to Jake's blood sample - outbreaks (if any) were being contained, and infections were quickly dropping in numbers as more vaccines were being distributed everyday. Sherry honestly felt very proud of herself, and what she had managed to accomplish with Jake, if she were able to talk to her scared 12-year-old self, and tell her that someday, she'd help save the world and fight against bio-terrorism just like Leon and Claire - that the little scared and vulnerably Sherry would probably laugh at her. In all of Sherry Birkin's life, she never thought she'd ever so much as come close to saving the world, but here she was, a proud D.S.O agent, doing her part for the government in anyway she could, and she had honestly never felt more strong and capable in her entire life. Her finally thought before she fell asleep was her parents, and how she was fighting Bio-terrorism so no child would have to lose their parents in such a morbid way like she did, not if she could help it. _'Night mom, night dad.'_ she smiled softly and finally let herself fall completely asleep.

* * *

She awoke the following morning around 9 am. Her eyes slowly opened when she couldn't feel Jake near her, frowning slightly at the empty space, she sat up. Noticing the sound of the shower in her bedroom's bathroom, she decided to get started on breakfast. She thanked god it was Saturday, because she felt especially tired and lazy today. All she had to do today was take her dog Oreo for a walk, and drop off her latest assignment report to the D.S.O for review. She was taking more written assignments lately, and though she preferred to be out in the field, Jake preferred she take more written assignments, especially when he couldn't be out on the field with her to watch over her, though he knew she'd be fine, he didn't call her Supergirl for nothing. She began setting up for breakfast, cracking 2 eggs onto a frying pan. She was bent over searching for orange juice in the fridge when she heard footsteps behind her. "Mornin' Supergirl, anything i can help with?" she turned to see the usual smirk on his lips, with nothing but his jeans on and a towel around his neck, Sherry couldn't help her wide smile upon seeing him. "Sure, start setting the table and grab 2 glasses." She then turned back to her search but kept her head in the fridge a minute longer to hide her blushing.

Jake had been staying with Sherry in her apartment for about 3 weeks now, but she still couldn't stop herself from blushing when she saw that smirk on his face. He had been staying with her for some D.S.O related business, Sherry knew nothing passed that. Everytime she tried to ask what exactly he was doing, he would sarcastically reply with "Its _confidential_ Sherry, It's for the benefit of national security." to which Sherry would slap him on the arm and roll her eyes. About 3 weeks ago, his playfully secretive attitude was cute, but it was starting to get on her nerves now, she just wanted to know what the D.S.O wanted with him - the rational side of her said that they just needed more blood samples, the more.. imaginative side came up with about 99 other possibilities.

The two weren't exactly involved, they hadn't even kissed, let alone anything else. In fact, the closest they had gotten was Jake staying in her bed with her on stormy nights, since when he had been in her spare room, he'd often wake up to hear Sherry screaming in the next room over a nightmare. He'd grown so protective of her since China that he couldn't bare to think of her being tortured in her sleep, and a simple hug often put her at ease which he was happy to give. Sherry was sure he saw her as kind of little sister - someone he needed to watch over, but Sherry felt more than friendship for Jake, and had ever since escaping from the underwater facility, though, she was too afraid to actually tell him how she felt, the fear of rejection overwhelmed her when she even thought about it. For now though, she was happy to be his Best Friend.

She served up the bacon and eggs, while Jake poured himself a cup of coffee and her a glass of juice. She decided to fill Oreo's dog bowl with some food before she ate herself, she hated eating when his bowl was empty. "So, i have to go into D.S.O's HQ for awhile around 11, want to drive me?" said Jake with a playful smirk. She took a sip of her juice before replying, "I have to hand in a report so sure, but.. what for?". Jake stuffed his face with some bacon and washed it down with some coffee, preparing his usual reply when she asked about his business with the D.S.O, but he was cut off. "Geez Jake, can't you just tell me what's going on already? It can't be that _much_ of a big deal." He sighed and shook his head with that persistent smirk of his. "Fine, but you're gonna have to come into D.S.O with me today if you're that curious, i have a meeting with the Director about it, I'm sure she wouldn't get too mad if you tagged along." "Director Hunnigan," she corrected, "And will we be long? i was planning on dropping that report at the front desk, then taking Oreo for a walk, so.." Jake stood up, grabbing both his and Sherry's plates and putting them in the dish washer, "Nah, shouldn't be too long at all, and how did you even come up with the name Oreo?" She giggled at his question, "What, you don't like it?", he shrugged.

"Not that i don't like it, it's just.. random isn't it?" It was her turn to smirk at him, "I've only had Oreo for about a month, i got him because, even though this apartment is a bit small, it felt big and empty with just me.. you know? and by mistake, when i got him i forgot to buy any food for him, or anything really, so i just fed him Oreo's since that's all i had in the kitchen, thus the name Oreo." she smiled triumphantly at her explanation, but it slowly turned to a frown at Jakes distant expression. "What, what's wrong Jake?", he looked up at her with a genuine smile, something she rarely saw from him, but wondered why it was showing now. "Its nothing Supergirl, i hope you're not lonely now is all", he winked at her and started clearing the tablet without another word.

No, Sherry wasn't lonely now, not at all. Her cute little German Shepard had been keeping her on her toes, she wasnt aware how much work went into taking care of a dog until she finally had one, but she loved Oreo, he was a relatively quiet puppy and she tried to get him out for walks as much as possible, but her work kept her too busy for a quick walk sometimes. Though, Jake staying with her for the last month certainly improved her mood all the more. He surprised her completely saying he needed a place to stay for a few weeks, and that 50 dollars wouldn't cover a hotel, and he'd wanted to see her ever since China. He often surprised her with dinner or movies and even helped out with cleaning sometimes, though not very often. The man she had met at the start of her last field mission in Edonia was a cocky mercenary, with little regard for anything other than money, but the man staying with her now was completely different. He was a polite and handsome man, with a bit of a short temper and foul mouth, but everything about Jake was perfect to her, and she loved everything about him.

She finished off her orange juice and walked to her room, getting dressed in her favourite boots, skinny jeans and a red blouse - if she was visiting the D.S.O she had to look professional, she could change into her walking gear when she got home to walk Oreo anyway. As she walked out of her room she smiled over to Jake, "Ready to go then Jake?" he finished drying the last of the plates and picked up his jacket, and threw her her keys, "Sure am Supergirl, lead the way." She walked out of her apartment calling to him over her shoulder "Don't forget to lock it, i don't need to have anything stolen while we're gone." He let out a sarcastic laugh and shouted to her down the hall. "God help the guy who tries to break into your apartment with Oreo on watch." to which she giggled and replied with "Damn straight."

* * *

The drive to the D.S.O HQ was uneventful, Jake fidgeted uncomfortably in Sherry's car. Not that he didn't like her car, but she could tell he missed his motorcycle. He was forced to leave it behind in Edonia when he came to visit her a month ago. She wished she knew what Jake's plans were - if he told her he was staying in the states, she'd love to surprise him by having it delivered over, but now wasn't the time to ask him that, and for all she knew, Jake could be leaving for Edonia next week, but she selfishly hoped Jake wouldn't be going anywhere for a while, she'd grown too used to having him there in her apartment when she got home from work everyday that she'd feel more lonely than ever if he left, though she'd never actually admit that to him.

Sherry pulled up in her regular parking spot - another perk of being a full fledged Agent - and the pair both hopped out and walked toward the building side by side. "So.. what am i in for?" Jake glanced at her with a bemused expression, "Aw come on Supergirl, you waited this long, don't make me ruin the surprize." He scanned his ID badge at the door and walked straight through, leaving a slightly confused Sherry in his path._ Surprize?_ she wasn't expecting to find out anything major, she was expecting they'd been asking him about the incidents in Edonia and China as they usually did, or taking more of his blood. Her mind began to run wild, coming up with scenario after scenario until Jake finally knocked her back to reality. "Sherry, you comin'?" she quickly nodded her head and followed him into Director Hunnigan's office

What in the world was she going to find out? she swallowed a nervous lump in her throat and sat in one of the two chairs opposite Director Hunnigan's desk. Jake lazily slouched in his while Sherry sat straight up with her feet together,_ funny how a persons sitting position reflects the person's personality in this case_ Sherry thought. Hunnigan disapprovingly stared at Jake's casual sitting manor in such a professional place, but ignored it, and even smiled slightly out of the amusement she got from Jake's 'Don't care' attitude, but decided against showing it too much. Sherry wasn't sure why she felt nervous, _what do you think she's even going to say?_ she asked herself.

Director Hunnigan eventually cleared her throat and began with the meeting. "Hello Mr. Muller, and Miss Birkin, lovely to see you two." Sherry politely smiled at her "Likewise, Miss Director." Jake added a small nod in Hunnigan's direction, which, if Sherry and Jake weren't in such a high end building, she would of punched him on the arm for being so careless. "Jake, we've finished processing your request-" Jake raised an eyebrow, "And?" Sherry shot him a warning look Jake, _quit while you're ahead._ she thought, hoping he'd somehow hear her. Hunnigan readjusted her glasses to read over some files on her desk, "And, it's been accepted, though on one condition."

This time, Jake actually looked up at her, with a curious look, "What kind of condition?" She picked up the file she was reading, pulling 1 page out from it and handing it to Jake to read over, "Well, In order for Sherry to become a D.S.O agent, she did training for 4 years, you will too. Though we acknowledge you've been trained as a Mercenary in hand-to-hand combat and battle tactics, so our condition is that you-" Jake suddenly stood up from his chair with such force that it fell over, startling Sherry, but didn't jolt any sort of reaction from Hunnigan. "You want me to fucking _babysit_ agents-in-training?" Jake barked with a sharp edge in his voice. Hunnigan slowly removed her glasses and calmly replied "No, Mr. Muller, not _babysit_. You've shown you are exceptionally talented in Hand-to-Hand combat and we believe your knowledge would be extremely valuable to new recruits. If you agree to train the new recruits for a full year, i will personally give you the field assignment you had your eye on, with Sherry as your permanent partner, granted the job is still available by then, and Miss Birkin accepts too." Jake stared at the piece of paper he was handed, with a full list of the duties he would have to handle, the skills he'd have to teach and the people he'd be teaching. Sherry was so surprised she wasn't quite sure what she was hearing

Jake was fuming, he didn't want to babysit a bunch of idiots for a full year, but if it meant he could get out with Sherry for field missions as her official partner, then what choice did he have? Jake picked up his chair and slowly fell into it once again. "Fine. When do i start." he mumbled with a depressed expression. To Sherry, he looked like someone had just hit him over the head with a hammer, and momentarily felt the urge to tell him it'll be fine, until she remembered what she had just heard from Hunnigan. Jake wanted to work for the D.S.O., no, he just _agreed_ to work for the D.S.O., she was torn between the urge to punch him and scream "Why am i only being told this now?" and the urge to jump up and down in her seat screaming like a little girl. "Very good, Mr Muller, How does Monday at 8 am sound? we'll introduce you to your students and you have free reign from there, as long as that list of duties is carried out and taught. _well._" Hunnigan smiled at him and extended her hand to him for a handshake, which he accepted. "Sure, can't wait" he replied with a sarcastic tone, one both Sherry and Hunnigan were well used to. "And Miss Birkin?" Hunnigan added, "You will be his supervisor, since you did such a good job with the recruits last year, and you'll only be needed as a consultant from the recruits to Jake, so it shouldn't take from your day-to-day work too much." Sherry slowly nodded, while Jakes jaw clenched and then slowly loosened, "Well, at least i'll see you more now supergirl."

* * *

**asdf; well there we have it, my first fanfic! ;v; like, ever. I'm happy its a shake fic though, i ship these guys ****_incredibly_**** hard. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! and review if you have the time!**

** oh and the title is the song King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men, a song that means a lot to me and my boyfriend, and since hes kind of my Jake i thought it would kinda suit the fic! keke ;v;**


	2. Chapter 2

For the rest of the day, Sherry wasn't quite herself. She took Oreo for a short walk down to Central Park - she lived about 30 minutes from there. Her mind kept wondering back to the meeting with Hunnigan she had earlier that day. _So, me and Jake are technically working together from monday onward.. _Sherry sighed softly. She was happy sure, but Jake obviously wasn't. She was worried that Jake would act as rude as always at HQ, and she wouldn't always be there to apologize for him, what if Jake got into trouble and Sherry - as his supervisor, got the worst of it? what if he got into so much trouble that she'd be _demoted? _She swallowed an invisible lump in her throat. _No, no, he wouldn't, he couldn't. not even Jake is that much of an idiot, i'll just have to.. _

Her thoughts trailed off as Oreo yanked on his leash trying to pull her ahead, Sherry guessed he saw Central Park ahead and was excited. Sherry felt bad she wasn't getting Oreo out for as many walks as he deserved, if he got walked once a week he'd be lucky. Her work for the D.S.O always kept her busy, but with Jake around her, her daily routine got a little flustered, with Oreo getting the short end of the stick. _Jake gets to live in the apartment rent free, maybe ill start forcing him to take Oreo for walks when i can't manage.. _and just like that, Jake was the center of attention again.

As she approached the Parks entrance, her phone chimed out a message tone. She instantly reached for her phone, upon unlocking it she noticed Jake had changed the wallpaper to a picture of himself. _Cute_ she sarcastically thought. The message was from none other than the mercenary himself, he took it upon himself to change his name in her contacts too, to _your one and only _of all things, she forced herself to hold back a laugh.

From: Your one and only

_"Hey Supergirl, don't leave the walk too late, i have dinner reservations for 6, its a fancy place too so get dressed up."_

_Dinner reservations huh. _She wondered where in the world he'd be taking her, but her thoughts were quickly cut short by Oreo's whining over being kept at the entrance. "Oh, sorry buddy" and with that, she gave Oreo more of the leash and the walked around the Park, occasionally waving at a passing stranger. They had been walking for about 20 minutes when Sherry located a bench to take a break and reply to Jake. She decided to change Jake's name back in her contacts, and finally reply to him.

To: Jake

"_Sure, on the way home now, where are we going?"_

She gave Oreo a dog treat she had brought from home before standing up and tugging hm gently to let him know it was time to get home. He was a puppy, so he naturally had a lot of energy, but she hoped he'd be tired by the time they reached her apartment. As they were passing one of Sherry's favorite café's, her phone chimed again

From: Jake

_"Its for the benefit of national security that you just wait and be surprized."_

Okay, she was kind of expecting him not to tell her, but she still let out a giggle at his recycled reply.

After passing a few more stores, cafés and an apartment complex or two, she was home. she smiled politely at her doorman Wayne, who was always courteous to her, and never minded Oreo too much. She'd always remember what Jake had said about him a week into his stay, _the way he smiles is just too creepy, tell him the med's aren't working. _She tried to casually jog to the elevator to hide her giggling, but she was sure it looked wierd. Pushing the button for the 14th floor, she picked up Oreo and petted him softly, she could see he was a bit tired, and by the time the elevator reached her floor, he was starting to fall asleep in her arms.

She opened her apartment door to see Jake relaxing on her couch with a book. He was currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and from what he told her, it was his new favorite book, the old one she had no clue what it was. Jake loved to read to her surprise. Jake would go through Sherry's book collections and read whatever seemed interesting. He soaked up information like a sponge, from what she read in his case file before her field mission to retrieve him, he inherited it all from his maniac father - Albert Wesker. Though, much unlike him, Jake wasn't interested in ruling the world, and used his advanced skills to become a soldier of fortune - well, now he was going to be using those skills to become a D.S.O agent.

She gently kissed Oreo on the head and lied him down in his dog bed in the kitchen and then walked into her living room to see Jake was closing his book and smirking up at her. "Hey, how was your walk? Oreo looks exhausted.", she smiled at him and sighed "It wasn't bad, and yeah, thank god, he was up the other night barking at the thunder, i want him to actually _sleep_ tonight, so _i_ can sleep." She sat beside him on the couch, taking out her phone to check the time. _4:56 pm, plenty of time. _she thought. Though, upon opening her screen she could see Jake looking at her to take in her reaction over the changed wallpaper. "Oh yeah, lovely picture of you Jake, no really." He flashed her a wide smile, "Especially for you Supergirl." He winked at her playfully, before sherry gently slapped him on the arm, "Sorry, but i like my wallpaper of me and Claire a little more." and with that, she changed her wallpaper back, ignoring Jake's over-the-top pout in her direction, which she just laughed at.

"Better start getting ready for dinner by the way, we need to be ready to walk out of her around 5:40. I've already had a shower so its all yours." He slowly stood up to turn on the TV to turn on the news, Jake was glued to CNN lately. He liked to keep himself updated which Sherry understood, but _all_ Jake watched was CNN, Sherry at least had her girly program's to distract from the reality of the world. "Sure, thanks, i shouldn't be too long." he nodded at her and suddenly all his attention was to a news story over a recent outbreak in Africa somewhere, but she heard the D.S.O had already sent agents to contain it. She stood up from the couch, grabbed some fresh towels from the laundry basket she had left on the kitchen table and took a 'quick' shower.

Sherry often liked to sing in the shower, but one morning she heard Jake singing along with her outside in the hall and felt so embarrassed that she hadn't sung since. She used some sweet smelling Cherry body lotion that she only used for special occasion's. _Hey, he's taking me out to dinner, why not? _She finished rinsing the conditioner from her hair, turned off the shower and dried off, quickly hoping into her warm fluffy dressing gown and crossing over to her bedroom to pick out her outfit. She decided on a knee-length blue dress with a white wrap and white high-heels. Half her wardrobe was blue, Claire once told Sherry that blue was her color, and she had to agree - she felt like blue suited her.

She was putting on a little lip gloss then Jake called out from the hall "Hey Supergirl, its 5:35, you ready?", she finished her lip gloss and quickly glanced in her mirror and smiled approvingly at how she looked, ready for a nice dinner and a talk with Jake about the meeting, maybe even some wine if Jake offered to drive them home.

She stepped out of her room and saw Jake had changed into a nice black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a good pair of jeans without a single tear. _Huh, i didn't even know he had such a good pair. _She couldn't help a blush when she saw him though, god he looked perfect. When he saw her, she could see his eyes opened just a little more wide than they usually did, and he smiled at her, "You look great Supergirl, as usual ofcourse." she giggled slightly at his complement "Thanks Jake, likewise." and with that, Jake and her walked out of the apartment. Jake locked the door and held his arm out for Sherry to hold, which she gladly accepted, and they were on there way.

* * *

Turns out, they walked to the restaurant. It was one Sherry had only ever been to twice with Claire and Leon, once for her birthday, and the second for a celebratory dinner from a mission Leon had arrived back from that had gone well. Despite only being there twice though, Sherry really liked it, it was a half indoor, half outdoor restaurant that served Italian food - Jake's favorite, and well, it was growing on Sherry more and more. They decided to sit inside as Sherry had shivered the whole walk there, which Sherry was very thankful for.

When they got the menu's and had finally decided on their order, Jake called over a waiter, "She'll have a garden salad and Ravioli, and I'll have Lasagne and a side of fries, oh and a bottle of red wine and 2 glasses." the waiter nodded politely and moved on to the next table to take more orders. "So," Sherry began, "Do i have to ask you about the meeting today?", Jake relaxed a little more in his chair and smirked, "What do you want to know? I know you want to be out in the field again, its all you texted me about after China, and i thought id surprise you by applying to the D.S.O to work as your partner." She smiled at his reply, honestly it hadn't dawned on her that any field missions she had after Jake wouldn't actually have Jake as her partner on them, but she was sure if she had realized it sooner, she would of missed him and not applied at all most likely.

Jake was the perfect partner for her, he didn't treat her as a mutant over her healing abilities, and she wasn't afraid of him, even with his inhuman strength, rude attitude or short temper. They balanced each other out, what one lacked, the other more than made up for it. She never thought she'd fine someone who accepted her so easily as Jake did - well, he was obviously a bit freaked after a piece of metal nearly sliced her in half, and as soon as it was pulled out, she was fine; no bleeding out, no crying, just a moan of pain and she was back walking within minutes. She expected him to be a bit taken aback by her, but after the initial shock, he was more curious and didn't bombard her with too many questions over it. When she replied with_ its a long story_ she was relieved to see Jake understood she didn't want to talk about it, and rewarded his patience with an explanation later in the cabin they took refuge in.

"I'm still pissed over how i have to babysit a bunch of idiots for the next year." he scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You're not babysitting Jake, You're _teaching, _and i'll be there to help you if you need any, i was kind of a trainer last year for them when there teacher had to drop out, i only taught them for 3 months but it wasn't bad, they were all nice and it can be fun." she smiled reassuringly at him and added "Don't worry, just think about what you get at the end of it all." He was about to reply when i waiter set there orders on the table in front of them and poured them each some red wine - Sherry's favorite she noticed. "Perfect, i'm starving" Jake mumbled and immediately began eating. "Yeah, yeah, enough about work and shit anyways, want to watch a movie when we get home? we never did finish Die Hard."

Sherry sighed, Jake had never seen a lot of the more common action movies, growing up he was more focused on getting money and learning Mercenary tactics - from what he told her, he had even dropped out of school to continue with training, so Sherry could see why he didn't exactly have the time to laze about watching Die Hard movies. He had discovered them amongst Sherry's already huge DVD collection - Claire and Leon often gave her DVD's as birthday or Christmas presents. Claire would give her romantic rom-com's that Sherry always loved, while Leon would give her nothing but action movies, he assumed she liked them since Sherry never said anything against them. Though, Die Hard was in a bunch of about 7 DVD's Leon had given her that Christmas, and she never actually got around to watching it. All it took for Jake to see the title and before she knew it, she was sitting beside a giddy Jake watching one of the most manliest movies she'd ever watched.

"Sure, didn't we fall asleep on the couch near the end?" Jake let out a short laugh, "No, _you_ fell asleep, and watching movies is boring as hell when i cant give my witty commentary." Sherry nearly choked on her wine from his reply, "I don't think you screaming 'Fuck yeah' at the TV qualifies as 'witty commentary', but whatever helps you sleep at night." she winked at him and finished her meal trying not to laugh at the memory of that one time when Jake had gotten so excited over Die Hard that he had knocked his coke all over himself and couldn't find the DVD remote to pause the movie, so he sat in his wet shirt for a good 30 minutes until Sherry finally kicked him off the couch.

Jake sighed, "Man i love this place, they've got the best Lasagne, well, second best - my mom's is always going to be the best." Sherry readjusted her wrap before replying, "Oh yeah, is your mom coming over soon? i remember you saying once that she'd love to visit America.", Jake nodded "Yeah, part of the reason i'm working with the D.S.O is so i can get her over here faster actually, Hunnigan says it'll be maybe 3 weeks before she can come over, mom called me yesterday saying shes nearly packed too." Sherry smiled, Jake loved his mother and it was sweet to see he was taking care of her, "That's great, guess you're on the couch when she gets here huh?" she winked and him playfully but saw his expression grow a little distant, "That's the thing actually, with the money from the D.S.O i'm actually going to be renting an apartment for her, and she wants me to stay with her there, she doesn't know the city and doesn't want to be alone you know?"

Sherry felt her heart sink, she knew this was coming but didn't want to know when. Jake and her weren't even dating, why was she so sad? well, they had grown so close after everything that happened, so naturally she was attached to him. She felt the tears stinging the back of her eyes, _Please don't move too far away, don't leave me again.. _She sadly thought. Claire was visiting her brother Chris and his wife Jill just outside New York, they had just bought a new house and were having Claire out for a month to help them with the furniture and such, and Leon, as usual, was on a field mission. She hated when either one was gone, but when they were both gone Sherry felt very vulnerable, so she clung to Jake all the more when he showed up unannounced outside her door 3 weeks ago.

Sherry quickly blinked back the tears that thankfully, never came. "That's great Jake! I hope you don't move too far away, I'm sure you'll be needing me to get you to and from work." she smiled happily at him, trying her hardest to hide her hurt feelings. "And that's the other thing, i actually talked to your landlord, the guy said there was an opening on the 3rd floor, it'd be perfect for mom since she doesn't like being too high up, so i'm not going too far supergirl." _Don't go at all _she silently replied.

"So when do you think you'll be moving out?" she asked, trying to keep herself together, and maintain the cheery face she had put on for him. "Hmm.. is next weekend okay? i'm sure ill be too busy with work this week to do _anything._" Sherry nodded, "Sure, i can help move your clothes and stuff out, we can even go shopping and get you furniture if you need it." Jake's eyes suddenly opened wide, "Shit i forgot about all that." he muttered, "Yeah, i'm definitely gonna need your help there, thanks Sherry." she nodded once more, "You don't call me supergirl for nothing."

Jake picked up the check and they walked back to Sherry's apartment, chatting about a bit of everything - How their dinner was, Work, Jake's books, until finally they reached Sherry's apartment door. Jake turned on Die Hard but wasn't in the mood for it once it started, and saw how Sherry was fighting to keep her eyes open. Jake slowly scooped her up in his arms and carried her to her bed. He tried not to wake her up so he gently took off her high heels and wrap, and tucked her in, he could see she was fully asleep by the time he'd reached her bedroom door, ready to go to bed himself.

"Thanks for letting me stay here with you Supergirl, I promise once everything's settled and sorted out, I'll tell you.." he muttered at her, knowing she was fast asleep and couldn't hear him, but secretly he hoped that she'd heard every word, and with that, flicked off her bedroom light and slowly walked toward his room, soon to be spare room.

* * *

**Wow, thanks so much everyone for follows and reviews, i thought my little fic would go completely unnoticed - but wow thanks everyone! i really appreciate all the feedback reviews follows and favorites, so thanks for taking the time!**

**on another note, just to clarify, I'm not American! i was born and raised and am currently living in Ireland, so i apologize if i use any non American terms, ill try to stick as close to them as possible though!**

**have a nice day! and if you think my fic is worth the time, review it! id love to know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

Sunday moved by fast enough. The power had gone out due to the storm that brewed around 7 am that morning, so Sherry and Jake decided to light some candles and play a few games of chess. Sherry lost more than she won, Jake was surprisingly very good at chess, Sherry only actually won 2 times out of 8 matches, much to her frustration. They talked for a grand majority of the day, listening to the rain and telling each other stories about their lives, things they'd never told anyone and things that, as Sherry put it, 'will never leave this apartment.' - in other words, private and personal stories that neither had shared with too many people in their lives.

They were sharing a bowl of popcorn when Jake flicked a piece at Sherry to snap her out of her day dream. "Hey, supergirl, you in there? its your turn." Sherry shook her head slightly and suddenly remembered it was her turn to ask Jake a question. "Oh, sorry - truth or dare?" Jake grabbed a handful of popcorn and said "Truth - and lets stick to truth for now, all our dares seem to include Oreo in some way, and i don't think he can eat anymore popcorn."

Sherry smiled, nodding in agreement "Alright.. uuuuummm... what was your first date like?" Jake was caught a little off guard by her question and let out a short laugh. "Honestly? awkward as all hell. I was like.. 14 and she was 13, i took her to the movies to see some horror thing, can't remember how it went since she got so scared and i had to take her home, didn't even get a kiss." Sherry tried to hold back her laugh but couldn't help it. "Oh Jake, you hopeless romantic!" she sarcastically remarked.

"Alright, fine, same question then." he threw a piece of popcorn at her which she caught perfectly in her mouth - something they'd practiced for a good hour with each other. "Honestly? never been on one." she was slightly embarrassed about it really, but she had been in government custody until she was 18, immediately began a 4 year agent course and had been living on her own since. Leon and Claire were practically her parents, they took care of her more than anyone - and she was always afraid if she had brought a boy home, Leon would of chased him off.

"I call bullshit Birkin." Sherry scoffed, "Nu-uh, i never had the time for dates! and nobody ever asked me out, besides i was too busy with the D.S.O and trying to get a life after being in government custody for so long - housing and food surprisingly took priority over dates." Jake merely raised an eyebrow at her, "Fine then, i owe you a date then - an awesome date, with flowers, candy hearts, a suit and tie and a candle lit dinner. _on the beach._" Sherry burst out laughing, "Cant wait Jake, just give me a time and date." Sherry threw a piece of popcorn at his mouth, which he caught with little effort. "I'll let you know, my tuxedo is currently at the dry cleaners." he remarked sarcastically, which just made Sherry laugh all the harder.

The power came back on around 9 PM, and by then they were both honestly exhausted, and well ready for bed. "Did you just make blackouts fun supergirl?" She triumphantly smiled, "I think it was the both of us if anything, and the fact that Oreo loves popcorn so much that he'll blindly run into any furniture that gets in his way to get it." She felt bad that Oreo had crashed into a variety of the furniture when the popcorn had rolled under her couch or coffee table, but he never crashed too hard, and it was honestly too funny not to laugh at.

"Poor Oreo, he deserves a nice long rest, and so do i - night sherr, thanks for the popcorn, and sorry about the mess." "No worries, ill clean it up when we get home, Ill call you around 7 and you can shower first okay?" Jake nodded, "Perfect, thanks." Jake was just in the door of his room when Sherry called out "and get more excited already, your first days tomorrow!" Jake let out a loud 'ha' before shouting "I'm _so_ excited, that you actually just can't tell anymore." She quietly laughed to herself, and went into her own bedroom. She thought she'd stay up and finish a book she'd been reading, but the minute her head hit her soft fluffy pillow, she was out for the night - she was just happy that the storm had passed so she wouldn't have to worry about the thunder waking her or Oreo up.

* * *

Sherry's alarm sounded at exactly 6:45 pm every week day, but she didn't actually have to be up until 7, so she would usually just lie in bed for 15 minutes, half trying to wake herself up and half doing a small checklist in her head of what exactly needed to be done at work. She had to review over 2 agent's reviews that were due in today, so she hoped that they'd be waiting on her desk by the time she got to work - she hated chasing people down for those kind of things.

After 15 minutes of dozing and yawning, she decided she'd had a long enough rest. Stepping out into the hall in her shorts and long sleeved shirt she'd stolen from Leon at one point, she gently knocked on Jake's door, "Wakey wakey Jakey, its your first day, don't want to be late!" Sherry was very cheery in the morning, the exact opposite of Claire and Leon she soon discovered after living with Claire for a few months when she had just turned 21, Leon would visit a lot of the mornings because Sherry would of been up early baking muffins and ready with coffee, and Leon in the morning was, well, a disaster before his coffee. Sherry was only happy to make him a cup every morning with a blueberry muffin - Leon and Claire had saved her life, the least she could do was make them coffee in the mornings.

Sherry stopped knocking as soon as she heard Jake's grunting, and ran to start breakfast. It was usually just her in the mornings now, she had long since moved out of Claire's as the older Redfield wanted her to be more independent and have her own life, but she missed having the company in the mornings - though, to be fair, Claire visited Sherry non-stop in between Sherry's work and Claire's missions, paired with her recent out of town visits to see her brother. Leon visited a lot too to check on her, but he was gone even more so than Claire. If anything, Leon was, has, and always will be a hard worker, stopping at nothing until his jobs done - Sherry always looked up to Leon in that sense, and someday hoped to be an agent as strong and capable as him.

Jake soon emerged from his room, Sherry assumed he wasn't used to getting up early because he walked from his room straight to the bathroom with a very angry expression - not a morning person she guessed, she smiled to herself over how much Jake reminded Sherry of Leon at the most random of times.

Sherry usually liked to eat something sweet in the morning, so she made herself a cup of tea and a scone with some strawberry jam, she probably wouldn't be able to work properly without the sugar dose in the morning to keep her going. She left a small breakfast of 3 pieces of bacon and egg, with some piping hot coffee on the kitchen table for Jake to get when he emerged from the shower, but Sherry couldn't wait. As soon as she heard the taps turn off in the shower she skipped passed him and shut the door, "Breakfast's on the table Jake!" and again, Sherry heard his grunt as a reply.

She took a quick shower. Hopped in, washed her hair, brushed her teeth, used a bit of body lotion and she was done. She was crossing over to her bedroom when she saw Jake in the corner of her eye finishing his breakfast and staring at the TV. _Wonder whats so interesting_ she thought. She decided to wear a pair of light blue jeans, a white shirt and her favorite blue scarf, and a black jacket Claire had given her for Christmas which was probably the best piece of clothing she'd ever gotten as a gift.

Brushing a bit of hair of her face, she called up the hall to Jake "Hey, you ready? it'll look good if we show up a little early." but Jake ignored her, he was too busy staring at the TV, to which Sherry rolled her eyes. "Jake, earth to Jake, we gotta go now." She walked beside him to see what was so interesting - just more information on the outbreak in Africa, but it was being contained, this story was old news. "Jake, come on!" she poked him in the back of his neck, which made him jump slightly "What? oh, sorry yeah." Sherry eyed him curiously, "Whats going on?" he shook his head "Nah, its nothing, im ready to go so," he turned off the TV and grabbed a large training bag - Hunnigan had asked Jake to bring spare change of clothes for the training, as well as some team jersey's for exercises and such.

Jake walked out ahead of her and she wanted to fill Oreo's bowl before she left. "There you go buddy, be good today." she petted Oreo on his head gently before dashing out the door - careful not to forget her laptop bag and report's folder. She reached the parking lot just a little behind Jake and they were off.

* * *

As soon as Sherry and Jake had signed in with there ID cards at the door, they noticed Hunnigan standing in the main lobby waiting for them. "Good morning Miss Birkin and Mr Muller." Sherry smiled and politely replied, "Good morning Director Hunnigan." with Jake adding his casual (and disrespectful) nod. "Miss Birkin, if you don't mind - i'm actually here to escort Mr Muller to his new work station, so you may continue to your desk and continue with your work for the day." Sherry nodded, she noticed Hunnigan had turn around to grab a file of some sort, so Sherry took her opportunity to whisper a _"Don't worry, you'll be fine"_ which got a simple nod out of Jake, and then she was gone, off to her regular routine of filing and evaluating reports.

"Alright Mr. Muller, for most of your daily duties, you'll be in the D.S.O's west wing, where we keep our training center, though you will have a desk here in the central building, you're in room 5-C in the second floor - Your desk will be used mainly to see agents, write reviews and assignments if any, and you can eat there if you so wish." Jake kept nodding at every word she said, but he was too tired to comprehend any of it. As soon as he'd gone into his room last night, he'd made by decision of staying up until 3 AM finishing To Kill a Mockingbird which he didn't really regret doing, but was surely paying for it now.

"Did you get all that, Mr. Muller?" Jake looked up and nodded, "Yeah, Ill mainly be over in the west wing, but I've got a desk here too for this that and the other." Hunnigan nodded, not exactly what she had said but it was the basic idea. She handed him the file she had turned around to get when Sherry left, and Jake immediately opened it upon receiving it. "That is a very important folder Mr. Muller, In it you'll find your daily schedule, Class attendance sheets and list of duties - don't lost it." Jake continued nodding, _Man, i better get one of those laptop bag thing's Sherry has for all this crap.._

"Very good then, i believe that's everything? your first class is over in the West Wing's gym in about 5 minutes, but its a short walk - if you have any questions feel free to ask me. Oh, and Sherry is scheduled to take your class attendance sheets everyday at 10:45, if you don't have them, _she_ will be the one to get in trouble as your supervisor, so try and do what she says, to avoid her chasing you down everyday for them." _Tch. being blackmailed through Sherry, isn't this a government establishment? well, what did i expect._

Jake's folder came complete with a map of the D.S.O's HQ, and thank god for that - the place was _huge. _Upon walking into the D.S.O gym, he could see it was well equipt, from footballs, to hurdles - Perfect. He'd immediately spotted a group of adults gathered around a sort of small sitting area near the corner of the gym, he guessed it was class. _Well, its not or never._

"So, you must be the agents-in-training." he announced to the group, they all nodded, some adding a 'yes' to their nod, others staying silent. The group looked to be between the ages of 18 to 21 or so. He could see variety in them though, some looked scrawny and weak as hell, while others looked ready and willing for whatever he could throw at them. _Well, D.S.O wants you guys trained, and trained well, so prepare to hate me with a burning passion._

"I'm Mr. Muller, but id prefer to be called Jake if anything, but i'm sure as time goes on, most of you will have settled on calling me 'the biggest prick to grace the earth.'" He got a laugh out of nearly everyone there, but he wasn't joking in the slightest Jake's old mercenary captain was an asshole to say the least, but because he was such an asshole, Jake felt he learned more - so, don't fix whats not broken, he'd just be copying his captain for the full year, using all of his teaching tactics with some improvisation thrown in at random intervals.

Jake counted about 27 agents, 12 girls, 15 boys. He decided to do the roll call first since he didn't want to get Sherry in any trouble. "Alright just.. say hey if you're here." and with that, went down through the names of all the boys and girls. He had to laugh when he discovered there was another boy named Jake, _Hey, at least ill remember 1 name._

"Alright, well start off with a few laps around the gym, when i blow the whistle once, that means a soft jog - twice, that means you start running - three times, sprint. Go." and with that, they all obediently took off running. Jake had to admit, it wasn't all bad, he hadn't discovered any idiots or class clowns yet, and nobody seemed outward disobedient to him, _lets hope it says that way for the year._

Jake suddenly jumped when he felt something hit him in the back. "Boo!", it was almost as if Sherry appeared out of thin ear to smack him with her clipboard, he had to admit she did look cute though. "Hey supergirl, did you get sick of your reports and ditch 'em for me?" Sherry laughed "Ha ha Jake, got your attendance form for me?" _Oh, right. _Jake handed over the attendance form to her and she immediately began writing down something Jake couldn't make sense of, he lost interest after a minute anyway. "So, is it horrible?" she asked, Jake shook his head in reply, "Nah, they're not horrible, but theirs still time.", he blew the whistle a sharp three times and turned back to Sherry, "I think i could get used to this actually."

Sherry was happy to hear that, she didn't want him to be unhappy working here, she was excited about having him around - she had hoped he'd be in the same spirit, but reminded herself that this is all new to Jake, he wasn't use to all this official government protocol, so she'd give him the time and space to process it. After about 2 laps of full on sprinting, Jake had managed to tire out all his agents. "Nice going Jake." she remarked, "Ah Sherry, do not question the master." Jake replied, "Listen i better get back to the herd, but what time is your lunch? mines 1:15 for an hour, maybe we could grab something to eat?"

"I have an absolute ton of work to do, so i may or may not be around for lunch, text me at around 1 and i'll see where i'm at alright?" Sherry was a bit depressed over the amount of work she had seen waiting on her desk when she walked in, but she would of been surprised if that amount of work _hadn't_ been waiting for her. _Well, if i have to work through lunch, that just means more time when i get home_ she told herself.

"Sure, i'll text you then, good luck with the rest of your day." Sherry turned around and started walking out the door, glancing over her shoulder to add "Oh don't worry about me Jake!"

_But i always do Sherry._

He glanced up at the gym's clock, noticing it was about 15 minutes until the agents 10 minute break, but he could see he had really worn them out, so he decided to give them an extra 5 minutes. "Don't expect special treatment like this every day ladies, running is something you're always going to need to do, so get used to it now because every morning we'll be doing laps until you're sprinting for miles without breaking a sweat." All the agents instantly looked up at him with disbelief, he had just made them all run a grand total of 14 laps, and it was apparently only going to get harder

Jake definitely didn't want to baby anyone; he was here to train agents, and Hunnigan had made it clear that they were to be trained to the best of Jake's ability, and he planned to keep that promise. "Take a 15 minute break, then be ready for some hand-to-hand combat."

Jake let out an annoyed sigh as he heard the groans of protest from his agents.

_Jesus christ, this is gonna be a long year._

_It'll be worth it though, for her._

* * *

**Asdfgh; my heart reaches maximum doki doki when i log into my email and see all the feedback im getting - squeal! you all inspire me to keep writing this! so much so that its 2 am right now on a school night and i stayed up specifically to write this, so feel special!**

**Thank you all for feedback, i really appreciate it - and yes in this fic i've decided to keep Jake's mother alive for a future plot twist, stay turned to find out what it is hehe! UvU Oh and leave me a review if you feel my fics worth it, i love reading the reviews you all are so kind to leave me, and if youve already left me one - thank you so much!**


	4. Chapter 4

Jake couldn't of been more thankful when he saw the time had finally reached 1:15 PM. It had been a long few hours; between running, sprinting, hand-to-hand, jumping, screaming, arguing and more running. The agents Jake was assigned had another teacher after the 45 minute lunch break on Monday's - so Jake had 45 minutes for a lunch break, then all he had to do was write up a small first day evaluation and he was home free.

Jake pulled out his phone to text Sherry about lunch since he was starving and didn't want to walk into a cafeteria only to wander around like an idiot looking for Sherry.

To: Supergirl

_"Just got off, thank god - wanna grab a bite?"_

He was about to walk out over to the main building when he saw his 'extremely important' folder left behind him in the small seating area. He noticed the back of it was oddly slightly heavier than the rest, and upon opening it he discovered a small plastic ID card. _Huh, weird, i already have an ID card for the building._ He was brought back to reality at the vibrating of his phone in his pocket, a reply from Sherry

From: Supergirl

_"Buried in my work so i'll be eating at my desk through lunch hour - I'm in Room 2-B in the main building if you're interested."_

Contemplating his options of either going to the cafeteria to get some lunch or talk to Sherry, he decided to go to the main building and see Sherry. He was sure she'd be glad to have the company, and he'd rather not stumble around the cafeteria awkwardly without Sherry to show him around or how things even worked. _Am i ever going to get used to this official government bullshit?_

After about a 5 minute walk and a flight of stairs, he was at Sherry's office - well, according to the door it was Agent Birkin's and another agent's name that Jake didn't recognize. _Who the hell is Agent Collins? _Who ever he or she was, Jake hoped they wouldn't be in there right now, Jake had the biggest headache from roaring at his agents all day and just wanted to sit down and relax for a while.

Jake softly knocked on the door twice before letting himself in, though discovered it was empty. Jake double checked the door to make sure he had the right room, which he obviously did, he was sure there weren't too many Birkin's working on this exact floor - so where was she?

Sighing, he decided to wait - maybe she had just run to get something from the car or gone to the bathroom. He took this opportunity to look around a little at her desk - no surprise out of how neatly organised it was. _Didn't she say there was a pile of work to do? everything's so organised i can't even tell what she's even been doing. _Everything on Sherry's Desk was work related, aside from 2 framed pictures that Jake had nearly missed completely. One of the framed pictures was of Sherry and Leon, and some redhead Jake had never seen before - Sherry looked a little younger, maybe 22 or so, and all 3 of them were squished in tight together, cheek to cheek smiling. Jake had to guess that the redhead was the jar heads sister that Sherry never stopped talking about.

Though, the 2nd picture was the one Jake probably liked the most - a picture of Sherry, maybe 11 or 12 - sitting in Claire's lap, fast asleep. He picked it up to inspect it more closely, and noticed a date in the top right corner, and winced at what that date meant to her, _22/9/98 the outbreak. _

Sherry was honestly very open with Jake, but only ever told him bits and pieces of that fateful night, and from what little she told him - he knew it was what haunted her in her sleep, and what she had to live with everyday. In the picture, Sherry looked peaceful in Claire's lap, tightly wrapped in an unfitting red leather biker jacket that she told him Claire let her keep. He had only ever seen it once in the back of her wardrobe - she treasured it more than anything and had once said as a joke that if there were ever a fire and she could only save 1 thing, itd be the jacket - though Jake knew that that was most likely the full truth.

Sherry looked so vulnerably in this picture, Jake both hated it and loved it - Hated it because he wasn't around at the time to do anything, and loved it because it was probably the cutest picture he'd ever seen on her.

"It's not nice to poke around you know." Jake's head quickly snapped up to see Sherry smirking at him in the doorway, holding what looked like a heavy box and a brown bag on top of it. Jake walked over to her to take the box from her, "Oh Sherry, will you ever forgive me?" he said in the most dramatic tone he could muster, which Sherry couldn't help but laugh at, "Sure Jake, did you bring anything to eat?" she asked, settling in her hair at the other side of her desk, taking the lid off the box and taking out about 3 stacks of papers.

"Nah, i'm alright though." Sherry raised an eyebrow at him and smirked even more, "Couldn't find the cafeteria huh?" Jake scoffed, "I found it, i'm just not hungry, is that so hard to believe?" Sherry let out a short laugh, "Yes - open the bag, the sandwich is for you, the bagels mine." Jake was a little surprised to see Sherry had guessed Jake would of forgotten to bring his own lunch or buy his own, she was really picking up on him in so many subtle ways. He took out his sandwich and started eating it, silently watching Sherry organize all the paperwork she had laid out for herself, the 3 stacks had evolved into 6 in the blink of an eye.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked with his mouth full. "I had to write a brief this morning for a few agents being sent over to Africa, just outlining what they're doing and any intel we can pass on - i have to chair a meeting on it tomorrow" she rolled her eyes at the last part of her sentence and sighed, "there's nothing i hate more than standing in front of a bunch of higher-up's about a mission i don't get to go on." Jake was caught between what to say first, either _I thought that whole Africa situation was being handled?_ or _Whats wrong with giving briefs, hate public speaking?_

He didn't get a chance to say either when Sherry reached for her bagel and starting nibbling while keeping her eyes steadily focused on the briefs she had to organize. "Cute pictures by the way" Jake gestured towards the 2 framed pictures he had been looking at before she came in - he had to admit he regretted it when he said it, he sounded like a stalker or someone who was obsessed with her, but he just wanted to keep conversation, and hoped Sherry would humor him.

"Hm? Oh, right yeah - that one was taken at my 21st birthday, Leon had been gone on a field mission for an entire month before hand, he had called to say he couldn't even come to my birthday dinner but surprised me around 6 that afternoon with a present and everything," she smiled at the warm memory, and let her smile slowly sink as she remembered the day her other one was taken, "and Leon's not in that one because he was taking the picture." That's all she had to say about the second picture, Jake knew asking about that day just opened closed wounds, but he was glad she at least answered him.

"What did Leon get you? you know for your birthday." Sherry glanced up at the ceiling trying to recall what exactly she'd gotten, _wasn't that the time he had been to Spain over the president's daughter? _"Oh!" She went through her bag and pulled out her phone, pointing to the dangling teddy bear hanging from the cover, "Leon had only been back maybe 4 hours from the mission, he hadn't even been to D.S.O to report his status, he handed me this little teddy bear key chain and just said happy birthday." Sherry had just assumed that Leon got the teddy bear key chain from the president's daughter, or in the air port terminal or something - come to think of it she had never asked.

"Cute." Jake remarked, finishing his sandwich, "Hey, better eat up, its 1:50" Sherry smiled at his cute way of watching over here "Uh huh, you can get to your office now if you want, i should be read to go home around 3, if you want to go home any earlier just let me know." She was about half way through her bagel and would of had it finished by now if these briefs were finished, but they'd be done soon, so she decided to just finish her lunch so she'd be less distracted. "Oh yeah, don't suppose you know what floor i'm on no?" Sherry eyed the all important folder Jake had brought up with him. "Show me your agents pass and ill tell you." Jake blinked, "My what now?"

Sherry smiled, shaking her head, "Oh Jake. Back of the folder, there should be a card there, its your agents pass - you can use it in the cafeteria for food, but whatever you put on the card is taken from your overall pay check, and its your key to get into any key rooms like lecture halls and the west wings gym, you're just lucky Hunnigan left it open for you and the agents today, its your job to open it from now on for your agents." Jake rolled his eyes, _Greeeaaaaaaat, more responsibility._

"Alright, good to know - the card says i'm in.. 5-C apparently " Jake replied, eyeing his new card curiously for anymore useful info - but nothing interested him. "That's the floor above us, just go out into the hall, go straight, take the second left and take the stairs." Jake nodded, putting his new card into his wallet, "You really are supergirl, thanks Sherr." Sherry giggled and waved at him, "See you back here around 3." and with that, Jake walked out, off down the hall and up the stairs to locate his new office.

To his surprise, he wasn't sharing an office with anyone, but saw there were 2 spaces for names on the door, so maybe they just had an odd number agents on the floor or someone had recently quit - whatever the reason, he was fine with it. "He settled into his surprisingly comfy chair and bare desk, settling some files on the table and checking the almighty folder for that list of daily duties. Hunnigan had underlined the last instruction in red _You must keep a daily record of the agent's progress - non optional - to be submitted to Supervisor Birkin by 2:45 PM daily._

_Fantastic. _Jake would of liked nothing more than to write how he truely felt about each individual person, but he didnt know more than half the peoples names, and the only people he remembered were class clowns during laps, trying to get the attention of some girls in the line infront of them no doubt.

Jake decided to go with the universal status of "Rocky start but making good progress" for all students, with minor changes to each students report so they all looked slightly different.

It was around 2:20 PM when he officially achieved the status of _Bored out of my mind _so he decided to take a walk, if anyone asked - he'd just say he got lost on the way to the bathroom. Jake was just about to turn a corner when he heard hushed whispers

"You didn't hear? i heard that Agent Ryan and Agent Hunter went completely off the radar 2 days into there investigation in Africa, and that's not even the worst part."

"What? they seriously went missing like all the others?!"

"Yeah, apparently the higher ups tried to contact them but none would reply - with Ryan and Hunter vanished off the radar, that makes 6 agents gone completely missing, wasn't this just some small time mission too?"

Jake couldn't believe it, he knew something had looked fishy about that out break in Africa, but what exactly was going on? Jake couldn't make out who was talking, 2 men is all he knew.

"Apperantly, DSO are sending over 5 seasoned agents - including Agent Kennedy when he gets back from South America, and you know its serious when they send him in, he only ever goes on the big time missions."

"What about the BSAA, are they doing anything at all?"

"As far as i know, they've got a few BSAA men over helping with clean up and disposal, but they're leaving the actual investigation for D.S.O so then we can.. "

There conversation trailed off as they walked in the opposite direction, out of Jake's hearing range, but what he'd heard was enough to make him extremely suspicious, _Nah.. couldn't be him.. he wouldn't.. i mean how could he... _Jake glanced at the time noticing it was 2:55 PM, and decided to head for Sherry's office, pushing the thoughts out of his head.

_This news would just scare her, what if she knew the agents who were missing and got upset? that'd all be on you then._ He cringed at the thought of Sherry crying, he couldn't even sleep because of the worry over her panic attacks during the night over nightmares, but somehow 0 the thought of Sherry crying was much more painful.

Jake got a text saying Sherry was at the car, packing up and ready to go, so he jogged down to her reserved parking spot and got in. _Don't tell her, she'll find out soon hopefully. _Other than that, the 2 were tired from there separate days, so they journey home was relatively quiet.

* * *

"Hi Oreo!" Sherry got down on one knee and petted the excited dog who had been waiting in front of her apartment door for who knows how long. It was a little dark outside as Sherry had to run some errands on the way home and it was now around 5:30 PM."Phew, i don't know about you but i'm beyond glad to be home - are we ordering food or going out?" Jake weighed both ideas against each other but neither won, "How about i make dinner? i'm in the mood for a chicken stir-fry." Sherry nodded, "Sure, that sounds great." Sherry rounded up some vegetables to use while Jake starting boiling some water for the noodles and heated up the wok.

"So, i was thinking, i never properly thanked you for letting me stay here for so long - so that date i owe you? be ready on Friday." Sherry was surprised, very surprised. Jake was taking her out on a date? or was this just Jake continuing the 'joke' from yesterday? either way she still smiled. "Great, looking forward to it - you and your tuxedo."

Jake grab a carrot and began peeling and chopping, "Yeah, i doubt the cleaners will have it ready, so ill just go with a dressy shirt or something instead," Sherry laughed, dicing an onion and adding it to the wok, "Same difference." Sherry added. They got all the vegetables chopped up pretty fast, and as Jake stirred and tossed the veg, Sherry was chopping the raw chicken, adding them all at once to the sizzling hot wok.

Jake was just finishing cooking the veg and chicken when Sherry had started draining the noodles and dividing them up onto 2 plates. Jake served the veg and chicken while Sherry filled 2 glasses of water and set the table. Jake brought over their dinner and said, in his best french accent, "Bon appetite." which Sherry applauded.

"So, got any good movies tonight supergirl?" Sherry looked over to her large DVD collection under her TV while quickly scanning over all the titles. "Whatever's fine with me honestly, you pick someone out, and no Die Hard." Jake looked a little offended by the last part of her sentence, but she knew he was just being his silly self as always. When they finished, Jake started going through all the titles of her DVDs before he spotted Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and pulled it out instantly.

Wow, you've got my moms favorite movie - except its..", "Its the new one, they remade it a few years ago, its really good." Jake frowned hesitantly but decided to give it a go anyway. Sherry grabbed a blanket for them to share from her room and they sat together on her couch enjoying a movie they were too old for, but still loved none the less.

"God. i'm starving after seeing that chocolate fountain." said Jake, waiting for Sherry to agree with him until he looked down to see her fast asleep, tightly clung to his chest. _Sherry, you have a talent for falling asleep during movies i like. _Jake was about to scoop her up and carry her to her room when she clung all the more tightly to him and shaking her head, he could see she didn't want to move, but he couldn't sleep in a sitting position, he'd be sore all over tomorrow if he did.

Slowly reaching for the remote, careful not to wake Sherry, he turned off the movie and gently lied her down on the couch, hoping she'd liosen her grip enough for him to get to bed but she just pulled him all the more closer. Sighing in defeat, he lied next to her, pulling her into him so she wouldn't be cold. She was so close that Jake's nose was being tickled by her hair, and he could smell her sweet strawberry scented shampoo that was more hypnotizing than anything.

He gently squeezed her for a minute, and then wrapped the blanket around them all the more tighter.

Reflecting on his day, he wasn't quite sure if he liked the whole government thing, it was all so surreal, but he reasoned with himself, saying he'd only actually been there a day, and that he hadn't even given it a chance yet. Sherry had the ability to make hard days come back to normal ones, she had back in Edonia when they were being chased by Ustanak, she had when they were kidnapped in that hospital, she had when they were pinned down in the underwater facility facing near death, but he was sure he'd need her the most on long dreary days in his office - she had a naturally positive nature that Jake was sure he'd never have.

Sherry stirred, he'd guessed it was because of the the light on the apartment, she never could sleep with lights on. He stood up as gently as possible to switch off the lights and close the apartments curtains, then he returned to her side, holding her once more, with her back to his chest. _Im gonna miss this when i'm gone next week Sherry, you have no idea how much i'll miss being here with you_

He strokes her arm slowly,_ but the future is full of possibilities supergirl._

He gently kissed her on the head before slowly drifting into sleep himself, and he was happy to say that his tight hug kept away all of Sherry's nightmares, giving her the most peaceful night's rest she had gotten in years.

* * *

**Okay, i've gotten the introduction-y Chapters out of the way finally! now the story can really begin QvQ**

**As usual. thank you all so much for the feedback, i'm glad to see so many of you are liking my story!**

**I have school every week day and i'm often extremely busy with homework and study, so keep an eye out of Chapter updates mainly at the weekends, but who knows - i could be random and upload a chapter at any given time! UvU**

**Thanks for reading, have a nice day/night/afternoon/etc!**


	5. Chapter 5

Sherry took in a deep breath in as she woke up from probably one of the best night's she'd had in a while - and to her surprise, she had a pleasant dream, she couldn't quite recall how it went but it was definitely not a nightmare, and for that she was thankful. She was about to instinctively reach for her phone beside her pillow when she felt something unusual in its place, her eyes slowly pealed open to see a shoulder in her line of view, and felt 2 arms around her - she felt a bit embarrassed realizing she had fallen asleep and had held Jake captive, but her embarrassment quickly faded when she saw his face.

He looked peaceful, so peaceful that Sherry spent a long 5 minutes just staring at him, both admiring his features and hoping he wouldn't wake up. She always wanted to ask about the scar on his face, but had never found the right time to ask - and felt the question may open up a touchy subject for him, but she had always loved it on him. He always flinched when Sherry touched his scar, but whenever she saw it she just wanted to heal it for him - she knew it obviously didn't hurt anymore, but she always felt the instinct to soothe it in someway.

_Oh god, he stayed with me all night, holding me.. _Sherry blushed, _thanks Jake.. _She leaned in slightly to kiss him on the cheek when she felt him stir, and instantly put her head on his shoulder and pretended to be asleep. Jake grunted slightly and shifted his body a little, by the sounds of it, he didn't sleep in the most comfortable position. He then abruptly stopped his moving when he noticed Sherry, she could feel him staring at her, _Oh god, do i open my eyes or keep pretending?_

She didn't have to do either when she felt Oreo jump on her and involuntarily let out a gasp of shock from the sudden slam to her side. Her eyes snapped open to see Oreo preparing to lick her face, and by the time she realized what he was preparing to do, it was too late - Sherry pulled her head back and shut her eyes tight, "Auugh, Oreo _why._" she yawned, now fully awake, and wiped at her face. Suddenly, Jake's laughter filled the apartment, and he wasn't afraid to really laugh hard to Sherry's dismay. "Oreo, say hi to Jake too or he'll feel left out."

Sherry didn't even need to say it, Oreo was already licking Jake's face which Sherry got a good laugh at. Oreo was hard to pry off when he was excited. She took the opportunity to stand up and stretch, glancing over at the clock mounted on the wall in her kitchen, she saw it was about 7:10 AM, which was fine. "You and Oreo should catch up, i'm gonna take a shower." Jake could hardly catch his breath with all the laughing he was doing, every time he pulled Oreo from his face, he just climbed up again, so all Jake could do was gasp out an 'alright' in between his laughing.

After a shower, a clothes change, some tea and a muffin, Sherry was ready. "Jake, you ready?" Jake looked up at her, "I'll walk today actually, i don't have to be there until 11 and i wanted to go to the library and check out a book before work, so you go on ahead." Sherry nodded, "Alright, but if you change your mind just call me, don't forget to feed Oreo and lock up." and with a small wave, she was gone.

Jake lied, he didn't have anything to do at the library, but he really didn't have his agents until 11 - he had different business to attend to. Jake had been thinking non stop about the out break in Africa and the missing agents. Jake had never actually told Sherry, but at one point or another, Jake had worked for a man buying and selling B.O.W's and Virus blood samples and just about anything else that had something to do with a recipe for death.

It wasn't something Jake had wanted to do - but he was 19, and in dire need of money, he would of worked for anyone, no matter the cause, as long as they ponied up the dough, which they did. Jake wasn't sure why he was so focused on this man - there had to be 100's of men like the one had been employed by, buying and selling this kind of stuff had to be normal at this point, since new Umbrella information seemed to surface daily, and so many companies were jumping at the chance to get their hands on it, but the man Jake had been employed by just stood out like a sore thumb when he thought about the outbreak.

At the age of 19, Jake had been employed by a man named Alrigo Lo Verde - Jake still remembered his first glimpse of him - A tall man, with slightly wild black hair, dressed in a black suit with an infuriating smirk, the kind that said 'I'm better than you', which Jake despised. He had only seen him once, and that was when Alrigo was briefing him on his job. Jake had to assassinate some researcher who had double crossed him, and steal back a vial of blood the researcher had attempted to sell to a rival. Jake got the job done with ease and was paid off handsomely for it, but something about Alrigo was so sinister that it chilled Jake to his core, so much so that he was sure the man was more than capable of pulling off something like the current situation in Africa.

But why was he taking agents? Was he even taking them, or were the agents all dead? Jake had seen Alrigo commit horrible things without so much as blinking. He had a reputation of doing just about anything to protect his investments - when Jake had to work with another man on a patrolling duty a few days before his assassination, he had been told a story of how Alrigo had snapped a mans neck over being behind on Blood sample results, which Jake didn't doubt and, still doesn't.

_Should i tell Hunnigan about this? I could warn her, get her and the other highers to look into this guy, maybe they would find something, but.. what if i'm wrong and I've just wasted their time, and i'm kicked out of the D.S.O and then my chances of being an agent are gone? _Jake stood up from where he'd been sitting at the kitchen table, and walked to Sherry's room to borrow her laptop. He had been given the password to it a few days earlier to check flight details for his mother, but now needed it for something entirely different. _Well then, i'll just search myself and see what i come up with, maybe i'll find something the highers will take as evidence, but they wouldn't listen to me. I need someone with power and status among the agents, who knows how to get their attention. Someone like.._

* * *

"Leon!" Sherry practically shouted, walking into her office. Leon had been sitting at her desk, looking at the pictures Jake had admired the day before. He looked up at her and smiled, and stood to hug her, but Sherry got to him first and squeezed him tight. "Leon, i can't believe your back, i have so much to tell you! Did your mission go okay? are you hurt or anything? Have you been taking care of yourself?" Leon let out a short laugh, "Sherry Sherry calm down; My mission went fine, no i'm not hurt and yes i have, anymore questions? and can i give you your gift now?", "Oh that's good, i always worr- wait, gift? Aw Leon you didn't have to!" Leon handed her a necklace, with a small silver bird pendant hanging from it, Sherry held it up and smiled wide, "Leon i love it, thank you!" She hugged him again, even tighter this time if possible.

Leon always looked out for her, even though she wasn't the helpless child she had been all those years ago, she still appreciated how Leon looked after in so many ways.

"So what do you have to tell me? I've got about 40 minutes until i have to go to get briefed about a mission in Africa, so you have me until then.", "Oh, i'm chairing the meeting so that's perfect!" Sherry took off her Jacket and scarf before adding "and i have a ton of news! i finally went ahead and got the dog i was going on about for the last 2 years, i decided to go with a German Shepherd, and i called him Oreo because, well, long story, and you'll never guess who's been staying with me for the past month!" Leon could see Sherry was really excited about having him back, she was so giddy she could barely contain it - but he didn't mind, he had missed both her and Claire too, but he'd have to wait to see Claire. "Hmmm.. No idea." Leon finally answered.

"Jake! he's actually started working with the D.S.O to become an agent, he has to do a 1 year training course first but after that he's going to be my field partner, isn't that awesome? i know its good news for you since you always worry when i do field missions alone!" Leon went still for a minute upon hearing his name - _So, Jake Wesker, working for the D.S.O, kind of ironic in a way,_ he thought. "That's.. that's great Sherry, i hope everything goes okay - how does he like it here?"

"He's not really sure what to make of it yet, he has to train the first year agents so he's basing his opinion on how they act and what they do, and more what they _don't_ do - so, for the moment his opinion isn't that great, but it'll grow on him, i'm sure!" Sherry again, reminded herself that it was only his second day and that he hadn't even signed in for his second day shift yet, but brushed it aside - she wasn't lying about Jake anyway, he had said during dinner last night that he didn't know what to make of it, so she was telling the truth.

Leon nodded, "Fair enough - hope he doesn't go MIA when he's needed, he needs to be as tough as he says he is when it comes down to it." Sherry smiled, "Oh he does alright for himself Leon, Hes well capable of handling anything."

Leon smiled, trying to hide his doubt. _Yeah, and if he isn't, I'll just have to kick his ass straight back to where it came from._

Sherry picked up a large stack of papers and her agent's pass, "Alright, time for the briefing." Leon took the papers from her to carry, "Great, all ready?" Sherry smiled up at him, and picked up her laptop, "Yep, thanks Leon." Leon nudged her arm gently, "It's what i'm here for."

* * *

The meeting was going relatively well, Sherry was getting through all the information fairly lively because she got nervous and panic-y when she was in front of her higher ups for too long. She was happy to see her hand out's were taking up most of the agents attention - and the fact that Leon was there smiling up at her put her at ease all the more. "You will all be landing in Abuja, Nigeria where you will be taken to the out break's center near Wukari, it has since been controlled but we suspect there could be clues there to who or what is behind this, so this will be your starting point. When you arrive, you will be lead by agent Kennedy." One of the agents cleared his throat, Agent Alex McCormack she believed was his name - He eyed her curiously and asked, "So Miss Birkin, do we have any names at all, any leads or.. anything to go on aside from this outbreak site?"

Sherry bit her lip, "U-um, not at this point in time, no. You're being sent to gather information-" A different agent interrupted her, "Gather information? No offense Miss Birkin but i think this mission has long passed the point of simply 'gathering information', i mean 6 agents have vanished from the radar, that doesn't just _happen, _we can't just run around this spot hoping to come across something, if anything we need to be looking for our agents, as well as-"Sherry interrupted him this time, feeling more bold and forgetting for a minute that he was a higher up "As i was saying, we need you to gather information on this particular spot, as it is around the spot where we lost Agent Ryan and Hunter, i'm sure that that qualifies as needed information Agent Walsh."

Agent Walsh then slowly sat back in his chair, out of the corner of her eye, Sherry could see Leon's smirk. Clearing her throat, she tried again, bringing up a map of Nigeria on a projector, Sherry pointing out Wukari and circled the outbreaks approximate location. "We last had a signal from Agent Ryan and Hunter's phones around here, they went missing shortly after arriving at the site, they reported nothing before presumably being taken, but this seems to be a hot spot as numerous BOWs were located here and the BSAA have told us that the area is very isolated and near perfect for anything a man with evil intentions would only love to claim for his own, so Director Hunnigan feels that this is the spot to start with - i'm sure you will all agree." Most of the agents gave a slight nod.

"You will be departing for the mission in exactly 2 weeks, on monday the 7th of October - If you have any further questions concerning the mission, please contact me, if there are no questions then i call this briefing adjourned. The agents nodded again, gathering up the briefs Sherry had handed out, shaking her hand and leaving, as suspected Leon had hung on until the end so he could give Sherry a hug and a kiss on the head, "You did great Sherry, I have to get home and call Claire, i'm sure she'd kill me if i didn't say hey before this mission." Sherry nodded with a smile, "I understand, i need to get back to my desk and do up a report for Hunnigan anyway, see you later Leon.", "Be good Sherry." and with that, he was gone.

* * *

Sherry headed back to her office to make a start on a progress report for Hunnigan, she knew she wouldn't get it finished. Progress reports always took her 3-4 hours and taking away the break she got for lunch, she had about 2 hours to go until she was home. Sherry checked the time, seeing it was 1:05 and Jake hadn't turned in his attendance sheets, so she decided to get that taken care of before settling in to her next report.

Upon walking into the gym, Sherry could see Jake was showing them different types of moves to use when the enemy had you grabbed. He was about to flip over a poor student who Jake must of forced to volunteer when he saw her and smirked. "Ill show you how to finish it in a minute, keep practising with each other." and with that, walked right up to her, "Hey supergirl, miss me?" Sherry let out a short laugh, "Of course, and also - Attendance sheets please." Jake's eyes went a little wide, "Oh, oops, sorry ill do it now" He grabbed his folder and took out the attendance sheet, roaring the agents names and ticking there names off as replies came back. He then handed her the sheet and shot her a curious look "So, how'd the meeting go?"

Jake looked very curious about it now, but she suspected he might be - he seemed especially interested in the whole Africa case. "Not bad, Leon was smirking at me the whole time so it wasn't half as bad as i thought it'd be." Jake looked surprised all of a sudden, "Oh, the hero's back from his mission so?" Sherry nodded, smiling at the nickname Jake had given him back in China, "Yup, he even got me this cute little necklace, see?" Sherry pulled the necklaces small bird charm out from the next of her short and held it up for him to see.

"Say what you want about the hero - he knows how to treat the ladies." Sherry laughed at him, then busied herself with the attendance sheet, studying it to and then slowly putting it away into her own folder. "I dunno about all the other ladies, but he can just barely manage it with me and Claire." Jake let out an amused hum, "Barely manage" he repeated. Sherry decided to avoid telling Jake a big long explanation of why 'Barely manage' was the best thing to say, Jake and Sherry were at work, they both had duties to attend to, so she couldn't distract him for too long. "Yeah yeah, well i better go Jake, i need to file this and be ready to file your daily record on the agents, and _don't_ make me find you again." "Aha, alright Supergirl, i'll try to - see you later." Sherry smiled and waved, jogging back to her desk to make up for lost time.

Jake got back to showing the agents how to squirm your way out of a rib crushing grab, but couldn't stop thinking about Alrigo and how Jake had spent a good 2 hours trying to research him, but any information was gone, and it infuriated Jake to know he had no other ways of looking him up - _well.. other than actually calling him to see if he had any handy jobs for me. Hey, there's an idea actually.. _Jake contemplated this for a long minute - a kind of way of going undercover, taking him down from the inside, but he then realized he still had no solid evidence that it even _was_ Alrigo, and Jake wanted some proof for himself and his mind if he was going to go to Africa to look for this guy.

Jake tried to forget about it for a minute, he just needed to focus on what was happening right now - teaching these agents, moving into my own apartment and getting mom over here. Oh, and bring Sherry on that date, definitely don't forget that - so he decided to just busy himself with the agents. "Alright, next we'll work on some take down moves, but first, 4 laps." The class groaned, the groan was so familiar to Jake by now that he could tune it out as he pleased.

* * *

The rest of the week moved pretty fast, and Jake and Sherry had settled into a nice routine of waking up together, sharing the shower, eating breakfast together, Jake getting all of his reports to her on time, coming home to make dinner together and maybe even a movie if they weren't too tired. Jake had to admit, he loved the routine he was in - it was so normal and average, exactly what he had yearned for when he was young, but Jake missed the action and surprise being a mercenary brought, he could feel he was getting sloppy - something that needed to be corrected soon, he needed to be at his peak if he wanted to do field missions with Sherry, but a small small voice in the very back of his head told him _You deserve this, enjoy it._

It was around 4:15 PM that Friday when Sherry emerged from her room after giving it a good clean, Jake was settled on her couch reading a book on war he thought looked interesting - it was. "So, what time to you want to move all your stuff down to your new apartment?" Jake snapped his book shut and looked up at her, "Uh, I've got just about everything boxed up, and the landlord said the apartment was fully furnished except for a kitchen table and matrices, but i can get those myself next week." Sherry nodded, "Don't worry about the matrices, I have a gift card to some Home shop i've been needing to get rid of, Ill order you 2 matrices tomorrow and they should arrive before your mom gets here." Jake shifted his weight on the couch and finally just stood up, "Alright, want to just start moving boxes down now?" Sherry could feel her heart sinking all over again, but it was her who'd asked when he was going, so it was her fault.

"Sure, let's get going, we can unpack the bedroom and some kitchen stuff today, we can get whatever's left done Saturday." The two started picking up boxes - Sherry wasn't all that surprised when Jake picked up about 4 medium boxes full to the top of Clothes and bed linen Sherry didn't need anymore and gave to him. She grabbed 2 boxes of kitchen ware, another box of stuff Sherry was giving away - but didn't need, so it didn't matter.

They had started bringing boxes to Jake's new apartment around 4:30, but they weren't finished until about 12:30 that night. They had worked at it for hours, deciding that the work was hard and it'd just be a whole lot easier to do it all at once. Jake was unpacking a box in the kitchen while Sherry unpacked and hung up clothes. A sharp pain crossed her head when she realized that Jake wasn't going to be in her apartment anymore, and quickly rubbed her eyes to hide the tears. She was going to miss him, and she hoped he'd miss her too.

"Hey Sherry, i'm all done in the kitchen, are there anymore boxes? please say no." Sherry giggled slightly, Jake's frustrated tone made her forget about how sad she was, and made her cheerful again. "Actually, there's one last box to unpack, could you do it yourself?" Jake let out a loud frustrated sigh, which Sherry just laughed all the more harder at. He walked into his new room in a huff, picking up the box and putting it on his temporary bed's matrice, he opened it up to find an old DVD player, a small stack of DVDs, and a few books. "Oh whoops, we must of grabbed the wrong box, want me to drop this back up?" Sherry giggled, "Its not a wrong box, consider it a house warming gift." Jake's frown slowly turned into a smile and he nodded, "Thanks Sherry, this is perfect."

Sherry had given him strictly the action-y movies Leon had given her that she had no interest in, and included 1 Rom-com as a joke that Claire had given her one year. It was a movie Claire and her had seen together, and Sherry loved it so much that she bought a copy for herself, and a month later for her birthday, Claire had included the DVD with a new pair of boots for her birthday, so Sherry didn't mind giving Jake the DVD she had bought for herself, since Claire had bought her a back up.

Jake laughed at the girly rom-com, which Sherry frowned at. "Mean." Jake laughed even harder, "Hey, i have good taste in movies, that movies great! if you weren't such a boy about everything, you may like it." Jake raised an eyebrow at her "Oh yeah? wanna bet?" Sherry picked up a pillow to fluff on Jake's bed before replying, "Depends what the bet is." Jake laughed at her and started taking the contents of the box out and laying it all out on the bed, leaving the girly movie to the side, "Alright, we watch this - if i hate it, i get something from you, if i love it, vice versa, name your terms Birkin." Sherry smirked playfully at him. _Alright Jake, i'll play. _"Okay, if you like it, you have to.. Walk Oreo twice a week for a month." Jake winced at her terms, but slowly nodded "Alright, fine.", "And what do you get if you win?" Jake smirked and tapped his nose, "If i win, you'll see." Sherry smiled, rolling her eyes. "Men." she said under her breathe.

Sherry pulled out one of the only 2 blankets Jake currently had in his apartment, and Jake called for some Chinese take out, to be delivered to the apartment. They always ordered a double portion of Fried Noodles to share between them, while Jake would always get some Chicken Satay while Sherry got Bamboo chutes. When it arrived they both sat on the floor together, curled up in the blankets, picking at their noodles and watching the movie.

"Now that guy is hot, this movie wouldn't be nearly as interesting without him." Sherry smirked, staring at the movie. "Really, that guy? he's so plain and screams _cliché hot bad boy, _he even has a motorcycle for crying out loud." Sherry glanced at him for a minute and let out a laugh. "Girls go for that kind of guy, the 'dangerous' type who lives on the edge, or whatever." Jake couldn't help but shake his head at her statement, "Is that the kind of guy you go for?" Sherry was about to pick up a bamboo chute when she was stuck for a reply, "I uh.. i don't know if i have a type." Jake switched his focus from the movie to Sherry "Everyone has a type, so do you like a bad boy or good one?" Sherry let out a breathe she hadn't realized she was holding "Um.. i guess a bad boy then if i had to choose."

Jake nodded, turning his attention back to the movie. Sherry let out a short laugh, "Oh there it is!" Jake eyed her curiously, "There what is?" Jake looked up to the screen to see the 2 main characters had started kissing in the rain. "The Hollywood kiss! You know, when a movie is clearly pushing 2 characters together and there first kiss is as dramatic as possible." Jake laughed and her and threw a noddle at her, "How old are you, 12?" Sherry ate the noodle and smiled wide at him "Hey, this is what me and Claire do when we watch movies, we sit, patiently awaiting the Hollywood kiss!" Jake shook his head, "You and Claire need a hobby." Sherry stuck her tongue out at him and ate more of her bamboo chutes.

After another 40 minutes or so, the movie ended. As soon as she credits popped up, Sherry gently nudged him, "So? what did you think?" Jake sarcastically yawned at her, making it as dramatic as possible, "The plot was incredibly predictable and the main guy bothered the hell out of me." Sherry groaned just as loudly as he had yawned, "You're such a _boy_ Muller. Fine then, what do you win?"

Sherry glanced over to him to see he was leaning in towards her, and claimed her lips in one swift motion. Sherry's heart skipped a beat and she blushed bright red. She gasped slightly at the surprise, and was about to properly kiss him back when he pulled away. "Now there's a Hollywood kiss, it was unpredictable, and neither of the main characters are boring." Jake winked at her, which just made Sherry blush even harder, "I-i.." was all she managed to get out. Jake stood up grabbing the empty plates they had been been using and setting them on the sink, and then turned off the TV. "Anyway supergirl, its pretty late and we have a ton of work to do to the apartment tomorrow, so i'll see you tomorrow?"

Sherry was still recovering from the shock of his kiss, so all she did was nod, "A-alright, I'll see you tomorrow then Jake, thanks for the food and movie." Jake nodded and smiled, "Thanks for staying with me Sherry." and with that, she let herself out. Sherry was so light headed that she slowly walked to the elevator and took a minute to try and wrap her head around what had just happened. When the elevator arrived on her floor she was glad to be home. She walked straight to her bedroom and put on her pyjamis

_Did that.. did that really just happen? _Sherry pulled the blankets over her face and sighed softly, trying to shake the thought of Jake from her mind, but when she closed her eyes, all she could taste was him - that exotic, intoxicating taste, the more she thought about the taste, the more she wanted more

_He's your best friend, right now isn't the time to be getting involved with anyone, stop thinking about it. _but she couldn't, the way he smelled, the way his lips felt against hers, it was all she thought about before sleeping

_Damn it Jake, of all times.. _She buried her blushing face in her pillow and tried to fall asleep like that, and with Jake's taste lingering on her lips, she was definitively up for a while.

* * *

**Not much to say, i think the chapter more or less is self explanatory! i think this is my favorite chapter so far, its the one that took me the most thought anyway**

**Review if you have the time to do so, and have a nice day! ;v;**


	6. Chapter 6

Sherry woke up Saturday morning around 10:30 AM. Even though Jake had only ever spent 3 nights with her in the same bed over her nightmares, Sherry still felt very lonely in her apartment, knowing Jake wasn't snoring loudly in the next room. This wasn't the first time she had felt this lonely in her apartment though, Sherry remembered the last time she'd felt like this nearly crystal clear.

##

"Sherry, I've got the last box, are you ready?" asked Claire, staring at Sherry who had her backed turned to her, staring at the empty room that was once_ her_ room, and had been her room since she was 18, but now she was 21, and was ready to and, more than able to afford to live by herself. Claire wanted Sherry to have a normal life, not to move out, but Sherry had felt like she had imposed long enough. She had saved up a good amount of money and her job would keep her well in money so she insisted on moving out to give Claire back her space, money was never going to be an issue.

But being lonely was.

Sherry wasn't worried about too many aspects of living alone - she was a reasonably good cook, did her own laundry, kept a neat and tidy space and wasn't too paranoid, the D.S.O's training had made her more confident in herself and physically stronger, but the one aspect she wasn't looking forward to was her nightmares.

Claire and Sherry were practically sisters, and had been since Raccoon. Sherry and Claire were incredibly close, sharing everything and anything, doing everything together and were just generally in sync. Claire knew how to calm Sherry down when she woke from her nightmares, and Sherry wasn't sure what was going to happen without her around to soothe her after one.

Snapping out of her day dream, Sherry finally replied. "Yeah, all ready," Claire frowned at her "You look like you're about to cry Sherry berry, you know i'll never be too far from you, and me and Leon promise to visit every morning before work! you know how we are if we don't get our coffee and breakfast in the morning, and me and Leon are absolutely useless in the kitchen." Sherry laughed softly at her attempt to lighten the mood, but Sherry just couldn't hide her feelings, not right now. Claire pulled Sherry into a tight hug, gently stroking her hair. "we're a family Sherry, we always have been and we always will be, if the apartment is awful and you want to come back, your room will always be open for you and you only."

Sherry smiled at her words, she knew that if she ever did want to come back, Claire would welcome her with open arms - and the fact that Sherry knew that was enough to quell the sadness she'd been feeling all morning. "Thanks Claire bear, you always know what to say." Sherry hugged Claire tight for a few seconds then let go of her. Claire eyed her for a few moments to look for any traces of sadness, but she was sure that she couldn't find any. "Alright then, lets get going then."

As Sherry and Claire walked down the hall and got into the elevator, Claire glanced over to her with a smile, "You know, you won't be living alone for long." Sherry looked over at her confused, "I.. won't? who's moving in with me?" Sherry was sure that Claire had done something like signed a new room mate up for her without her knowledge, and desperately hoped she didn't, Sherry wasn't fantastic with meeting new people. she had horrible trust issues. Claire laughed, "Sherry, you're gorgeous, you'll probably be sneaking a new guy every weekend in and out of your apartment, soon enough you'll have a boyfriend and he'll move in with you, and then you won't need me or Leon anymore."

Sherry blushed at the idea, _No way, there's no guy on the planet that could ever handle my baggage, or ever understand how it feels like to be an expendable science project. _She thought bitterly, but decided not to let it show - instead, she smirked over at Claire playfully. "Me sleeping with a new guy every weekend? is that what you think of me Claire?" Sherry spoke in the most sarcastically hurt tone she could muster, the result made Claire let out a short laugh. "The guys at the D.S.O are always drooling all over you, are you're telling me you have no interest in doing any of them?" Sherry blushes even more so, and replied with "Not really, all of them are so.. official and formal and polite." Claire raised an eyebrow. "Oh no, they sound terrible." she sarcastically remarked.

Sherry shook her head, smiling awkwardly, "What i mean is i don't like guys who are prim and proper - you know how organised i am, i feel like a guy with the same 'neat and tidy' attitude as me would be boring, I'd like a guy who's the exact opposite of me if anything." Claire looked slightly surprised at her statement, "Really? so you want.. a guy who's messy, rude and.. obnoxious?" Sherry sighed, "Well, aside from the rude and obnoxious part, sure - i'd just like a guy who's different to me, opposites attract and all that." Claire nodded, "Well, whatever you want Sherry. I still need to set you up with Daniel, you know, the guy i was telling you about?", "The guy you work with?" Claire nodded again, "Yeah, i have a feeling you'd really like him, he's really fun and a great cook."

Sherry tried to hide her 'bored look' face at the mention of a blind date, she hated being on them but usually went because she half had the hope that she'd meet a decent guy, and half looked forward to the free dinner and usually pleasant conversation. "Sure, after i get settled in, you can set it up." Claire giggled at the go ahead she was given, "Perfect, i know you'll really like this guy, who knows, maybe it'll be true love between you two!" Sherry shook her head laughing at the thought.

##

Sherry sighed, thinking back on that day. She recalled cancelling on Daniel because she had to do reports near all that day for Derek Simmons - her deceased Supervisor and legal guardian. He used to really pile on the work for her, but she had never minded. Claire was called away about a week later on a field mission that she was gone with for a full month, so her and Daniel never got to reschedual, not that Sherry really cared.

Sherry picked up her phone and hit the home button to light up the screen, and immediately wished she hadn't when it lit up to the picture that Jake had taken of himself and changed from her Claire and herself's picture. She had changed it to a different picture of herself and Claire just to see Jake's reaction - which was a satisfactory pout of disapproval - but changed it back that night to the cute picture of Jake winking at the camera. _The minute i manage to distract myself from you, you appear again.. _Sherry let out a frustrated sigh. Forgetting that she originally picked it up to text Claire, she hopped out of bed leaving her phone on her pillow, changed into some jogging gear and put Oreo on his leash.

* * *

Sherry had taken Oreo for a nice long jog around Central Park, and had tired him out, leaving the drained sleeping Oreo in her arms upon returning home. She settled Oreo into his bed when she felt a weird sensation cross over her. She stood upright and looked around herself, trying to pin point the odd feeling, Sherry could feel something was wrong, that something was out of place.

"Um.. Hello?" she shouted out to her apartment, but she got no reply back. Unconvinced that she was alone, she looked around her apartment, finding nothing in her small kitchen or sitting room, she headed for her bedroom. She slowly pushed the door open to reveal her messy bed and the book she had been reading lazily placed on her bedside table, along with her phone still unmoved on her pillow. She then realized how stupid and paranoid she was being. _How could anyone be in here besides me? come on Sherry, you're better than this. _She walked to her bed, about to reach for her phone when she felt two arms wrap around her chest.

She gasped loudly and was about to fight back when she heard the familiar giggle of Claire Redfield in her ear. "Boo." Claire nonchalantly stated. Claire instantly let her go and Sherry whirled around, seeing her smirk and arms wide open, she practically jumped into her hug. "Claire!" Claire let out a small gasp from the impact and laughed, "Hey Sherry Berry, from your reaction, i'm guessing you missed me?" Sherry stepped away from her just enough to look at her properly, her hair had gotten a little longer but other than that, she was the same old Claire.

"Of course i did! How are Chris and Jill?" Sherry asked, Claire smiled and nodded, "Doing just fine, Chris got drafted for a job in Africa in 2 weeks time, so himself, me and Jill all came out here to have a bit of a party tonight - you're coming by the way." She winked at her playfully. _Perfect, a distraction. Couldn't be better timing Claire. _Sherry nodded eagerly, "Can't wait!" Claire held up a bag she'd been holding that Sherry only spotted just then. "I have my outfit for tonight but i thought we could go get our hair and nails done, and just get dressed here, if that's okay with you.", Sherry rolled her eyes and smiled, "Claire, of course its okay! who do you think you're talking to?"

Claire nodded, smiling at her, "Just trying to be polite Sherry, so whats new with you?" Sherry tried to think, her mind momentarily drawing a complete blank, until Jake sprang up in her mind like a Jack in the Box. "Oh Jake, Jake's here!" Claire looked at her curiously for a moment, "He's here? like, in New York?" Sherry nodded, "Yes! Just a few floor's down actually, he got an apartment in the building, he got a job at D.S.O, hes training to become an agent!" Claire smiled, she knew how much Jake mean't to her, so she was happy for her. "That's great, i hope he get's to become one soon, do i get to meet him?"

"Of course! when do you want to meet him?" Claire thought about it for a minute, before replying, "Why not tonight? It's going to be Me, Chris, Jill, Leon and yourself, so why not Jake too? he can meet Jill and me for the first time and we can all get to know each other." Sherry had to admit, the thought excited her, she wanted Jake to meet and get along with her circle of friends more than anything, but a little voice told her not to get _too_ excited, Jake was always a bit confrontational and him and Chris weren't exactly best friends.

"I'll text him later and see if hes free - he only moved into his apartment yesterday and could be busy with setting it up." Claire nodded, "Well, whatever happens, i want to meet him, so if he can't make it to the party, lets organize a DVD night or something." Sherry smiled at the thought, and nodded back. Sherry unlocked her phone and starting writing a new message

To: Jake

_"Hey Jake, Claire is organizing a bit of a party tonight, small enough - Herself, me, Leon, Chris and Jill, want to come with? Claire really wants to meet you."_

Sherry hit the send button and caught Claire looking over her shoulder at the picture of Jake, and looked at her with a wide grin. "Aww cute - you two going out now?" Sherry blushed deeply, "No, he changed it to a picture of himself and i keep forgetting to change it." Claire looked at her with an expression that said _'Really?'_ but all she said was "Sure." in the most sarcastic tone Sherry had ever heard, well, aside from Jake's.

* * *

Jake had been lying awake on his makeshift bed on the couch for the past hour or so, just thinking, Sherry was nice enough to set up a bed for him in his new room, but the matrice was incredibly uncomfortable - so he could see why his landlord told him he'd need 2 new ones. He had been bold enough to kiss Sherry the night before, but when he hadn't felt her kiss him back straight away, he pulled away from her out the fear or rejection. He was no stranger to rejection, he had lived with it his entire life; The rejection of his father, the rejection of affection from anyone aside his mother, the rejection of any type of normal life after he dropped out of school - it was a feeling that Jake knew all too well, but he wasn't prepared to accept it when it came to Sherry.

_Idiot, i knew she didn't feel the same way, and now I've royally fucked us up._ Jake groaned and buried his face in an old pillow Sherry had given him, and to his dismay, it smelled just like her. Sherry had this particular scent about her, like vanilla and strawberries, and he absolutely loved it. Her very scent drove him insane. _Fuck, i should of just told her._ Jake contemplated going for a run to clear his head, but the loud vibrating sound of his phone shook him away from his thoughts. Upon picking it up, he saw the name Supergirl on screen and allowed himself to smile, _Well, at least shes not avoiding me, that's something._

From: Supergirl

_"Hey Jake, Claire is organizing a bit of a party tonight, small enough - Herself, me, Leon, Chris and Jill, want to come with? Claire really wants to meet you."_

Jake rolled his eyes at the thought of a social gathering, and with Chris. He never liked the Redfield, but he had lost his best man Piers in order to help him and Sherry out, and never did get the chance to thank him, and he could tell Sherry was trying to bait him into going. _Fuck it, why not, not like i have to hold hands with the guy and exchange friendship bracelets._ Jake began typing back a reply

To: Supergirl

_"Sure, what time and what should i wear?"_

Jake hopped up from the couch to throw on some old sweat pants and a shirt, he wanted to get some painting done in his soon-to-be mothers room before this party so it looked decent and was well aired out for his mothers arrival. Jake had about a week to go until his mother would be in America with him, and he was looking forward to it - he always felt uneasy when his mother was out of his reach. Jake gave 1 quick read over of Sherry's texts before locking his phone and throwing it on the couch. _This party better not be awkward as all hell_ he hoped.

Jake was laying out old news paper sheets on the spare bedrooms ground and started tuning an old radio he'd found, in the hopes that he could find a good station with some decent music, he cracked a smile when he located some ACDC on a random frequency and began painting the room in a light blue - Sherry had given him the bucket of paint, it was left over from when she had painted Jake's old room in her apartment.

Jake only got about 2 strokes of paint on the wall when his phone chimed, a reply from Sherry he guessed.

From: Supergirl

_"Claire will bring us, so be ready for 8, we're going out to dinner and a bar so semi casual i suppose."_

Jake looked up from his phone over to his own room, and quickly scanned through all the clothes he had in his head._ Jeans, shirt and jacket; its all i have so it'll do._ Jake made a mental note to go shopping and soon, if his mother saw his bare and tattered wardrobe he was sure she'd drag him to the closest mall and buy him just about everything and anything in his size, so if he could - he would try his best to avoid it.

To: Supergirl

_"Alright - see you then."_

He locked his phone and got back to painting, it was only around 1 PM so he had more than enough time to get at least 1 coat on the room and finish that book he'd been reading - it was a surprisingly interesting biography of a soldier from WW2. Jake picked up his paint brush once again and got back to work, he knew it was going to be a long day.

* * *

Sherry and Claire went to a hair salon just down the street from Sherry's apartment, and had met up with Claire's sister-in-law Jill Valentine there. Sherry was surprised to find that her and Jill actually got along very well throughout the 4 years she had known her, and considered her a good friend. The three girls rarely got a chance to have a girly day out, their jobs kept them understandably very busy, but when they did get the chance, they made sure to make the most of it.

Sherry was having her nails painted while Jill and Claire were having their hair washed - Sherry's hair was so short it was washed and nearly finished by the time the 2 women had been called to take a seat each. The three gossiped and laughed the whole time. Sherry had decided to paint her nails a very dark navy to match with the party dress she had in mind for the night, and was gently blowing on them to aid the drying when Claire chimed in, "God, its been so long since we just sat in a salon chatting like this."

Sherry and Jill hummed in agreement, Jill lazily looked up to the two girls and added, "It may be the last for a while." The two lost their smiles and it was Sherry who asked first, "What do you mean?" Jill looked down slightly before speaking, "They're saying the outbreaks in Africa are getting worse by the day, the BSAA have their hands tied trying to evacuate areas and do clean up, who knows how long Chris is going to be gone, and i'm sure the D.S.O will be sending you over to investigate too Sherry, eventually," Sherry's smile was now officially gone - she knew Jill was telling nothing but the truth, the progress report's Sherry had been reading over lately just seemed to list worse and worse news for the mission in Africa, but hadn't exactly believed it until Jill said it out loud.

Claire could see the sadness hanging over the two, and didn't like it one bit. "Hey hey! girls, we're forgetting that the D.S.O has a trump card up its sleeve; Leon! and with Leon over there _as well as_ Chris, this outbreak will be investigated, solved, cleaned up, wrapped up and become yesterdays news like_ that." _The two women looked over to Claire and both echoed "Trump card." at the same time, which made the three burst into a fit of giggles. Sherry internally wondered why Jill hadn't mentioned herself when she said the BSAA had their hands tied, she was Chris' partner wasn't she? but brushed it aside, maybe it was implied that she was going.

Claire and Jill got their hair dried and both had their nails painted while Sherry enjoyed reading The Times and a mud mask. Claire decided the red in her hair was fading so she decided to get it redyed while they were there, so altogether, they had spent 4 hours in the salon - not that anyone minded, it just meant they all had more time to chat. Gossip got so juicy at one point that Sherry contemplated getting her hair dyed just to buy them more time alone, but quickly smiled, and brushed off the very notion.

The three had decided to stop by a StarBucks before officially heading to Sherry's apartment to get ready for the night, they had at least 4 hours to go until Party time, so they decided they could spare 1 hour for a muffin. some hot coffee, and any gossip they hadn't covered in the salon. After exactly an hour and thirty minutes, they jogged to Sherry's building, and laughed the whole way up the elevator - and within about 30 minutes of getting into Sherry's apartment, it was completely transformed. Jill and Claire and brought more perfumes, outfits, purses, wraps, lipsticks, foundations, blushes and mascara then Sherry had ever seen. "Uh, guys, i thought we were going to a party tonight, not a party every night for the next 2 weeks." Claire and Jill laughed, and Claire said "Neither of us could decide what to wear so we just brought what tied for first place."

Sherry sighed and nodded, jogging back and forth from her room - fetching any make up and perfume she could contribute to the already huge pile, as well as her full length mirror and smaller make up mirror from her dresser. The kitchen had officially become a huge salon for the girls, and they each took their sweet time doing their make up. Sherry grabbed her iPod and put it on shuffle, leaving it at a low volume so the girls could still talk but it would never really be silent.

Sherry fed Oreo and put him in her room around 6:30 when the girls were getting ready to put on their clothes - Oreo was a clean dog but he had sharp enough nails to tear any clothes and slobbered a bit, so she just decided to leave Oreo in her room for the night, Sherry wasn't into drinking too much, she hated the taste and didn't find the whole idea very appealing - save for the _occasional_ glass of red wine, so she wouldn't be stumbling home around 3 am, so she decided Oreo should be fine until she got home.

Sherry had known what she was going to be wearing the whole time, a short navy dress and some light yellow patterns running along the side of it, paired with a short yellow jacket - it was the other two girls that hadn't a clue.

They had spent an hour walking in front of her full length mirror with a grand total of 7 outfits for Claire and 9 for Jill until they decided on a lovely short red dress with a brown belt for Claire, and a short green dress with a white wrap for Jill. It had taken the girls a grand total of 7 hours to get ready for this small get together they were calling a party, but Sherry was sure everyone would agree when she said that it was an amazing day.

Locking her apartment, Sherry shouted to the girls already halfway down the hall "You guys can go on down the car - I'll grab Jake and meet you there." The girls chimed a "Kay." perfectly together that sounded so perfect Sherry was sure it was rehearsed. The girls had taken the first elevator but Sherry's building had 4, so she just took the one next to it to Jake's floor. Sherry knocked softly on Jake's door, quickly taking out her phone to check her reflection in the phones blank screen. She glanced up when she heard Jake shuffle towards the door, and the 2 were equally stunned with the others appearance.

Jake was wearing what looked like a brand new pair of black jeans and a gorgeous button up Blue shirt with a nice black leather Jacket. Jake was the one who spoke up first, "Wow Sherry.. you look.. gorgeous." he looked her up and down from head to tie, and loved it all - what she was wearing, how her hair was, how she smelled, _everything._

Sherry giggled at Jake's reaction, "Thanks Jake, you look fantastic - new clothes?", Jake smirked and bashfully bowed his head slightly. "Yeah, i actually finished painting pretty fast and got my book finished - fantastic ending by the way - all around 4, so just decided to bite the bullet and get myself some new clothes." Sherry smiled, Jake honestly looked amazing in anything she wore, or so she thought anyway, but she appreciated the fact that he got new clothes for the little get together.

Jake held out his arm for sherry to wrap hers around as they always did on their dates - _does this count as a date?_ she asked herself. Her mind didn't reply, but she decided to just assume it was a _kind_ of date. "So," Sherry started, "Excited to go out with everyone?" Jake let out a short laugh, "Sure, excited is as good a word is any." he replied with. They walked off down the hall together and Sherry couldn't help herself from smiling at the image of the 2, in their best dressed, walking near hand in hand and chatting, she hoped one of the girls had packed a camera in their purse, Sherry wanted to get a picture of them all together before the night was out.

* * *

Sherry and Jake arrived beside Claire's car when the 2 women instantly jumped out of their seats and giddily approached Jake. It was Claire who shook his hand first, "Claire Redfield, a pleasure." She winked at him playfully as she always did - their was no sense of formality in Claire's voice, ever, she was too silly for that, and that's what Sherry loved about her. Jake smiled and nodded, "Jake Muller, but i'm sure Supergirl over here has told you all about me." Claire smirked and replied with, "Oh she's told me _plenty_ Jake." Sherry instantly grabbed Claire, covering her mouth, hissing a _shhh_ sound, Jake couldn't help but laugh at how hard she was now blushing. _Women_ Jake thought.

Jill slowly walked up to him and held out her hand just like Claire had, "and then there's me, Jill Valentine, nice to put a face to the name." Jake nodded and shook it, "Likewise, you're the jarhead's wife huh?" Jill giggled at the nickname, it was one she hadn't heard Chris being called in a long time. "Sure am, though id recommend against calling him that at dinner, may not set off the best impression." Jake shook his head and smirked, "Sure, whatever you want."

After the small fight Sherry and Claire had was dispersed by Jill, which had all 4 of them laughing - they all got in the Claire's car and were on their way. Upon arriving in front of the restaurant, Jill and Jake had gotten into a discussion over their favorite guns - Sherry was glad to see how well Jake was already getting along with the girls, _Now that just leaves the boys._ Sherry thought.

As they walked in, Claire caught sight of Leon and Chris at a table near the back of the restaurant, and were let through to them. Leon caught sight of them first and stood to hug them all, but decided on a handshake for Jake, "Its been a while Jake, how's life?" he asked, "Not too bad to be honest, and with you?" Leon smiled, "Just fine." the 2 men nodded and each other and Sherry could see Jake tense up at the now clean view he had of Chris. Chris rose from his chair and held out his hand to Jake, "Hey Jake, long time no see." Sherry could see Jake was thinking, contemplating his next move, and seemed to be fully frozen. _Come on Jake, come on_ Sherry was crossing her fingers under the table. After a few more seconds of agonizing suspense, Jake shook his hand, "Yeah." he replied with, and took his seat. _Well, it's progress, at least he didn't pull a gun on him this time. _Sherry optimistically thought.

Dinner was going great, Sherry was having a discussion between Chris and Leon over the developments in Africa while Claire, Jake and Jill had been playing some sort of game she couldn't quite make out. Leon leaned in a little, signifying to both Chris and Sherry that what he was about to say needed to be kept quiet, so they both learned in with him. "Aside from the intel we've had about the mission, I've only learned one other piece of information." "Sherry and Chris both watched Leon in anticipation for his next words. "This is really just me grasping for straws here, but in a few files i managed to pull from the evidence locker from the outbreak in South America that i was on just last week - i gotta say, the outbreaks look incredibly similar - and in the files i managed to retrieve from the HQ they had going, i saw 1 name over and over and over."

Chris nodded, he had his arms in the table, leaning in even closer, "Well? what did you see?" Leon looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody would be near enough to hear, this was incredibly confidential stuff he was talking about, he didn't need a random person hearing it. "A man named Alrigo Lo Verde, and from what i can tell, he's not the only one running this, he seems to be a puppet master of sorts, but that's all i know, I've yet to look into this any further." Jake was laughing away with Jill and Claire, but he had heard every word, and tried to hide his worried expression. _Shit, it is him, you need to warn them Jake, or else they're going to die_. He thought. _Well.. it can definitely wait until dinner, but after i need to get Leon alone and tell him._

After another 10 minutes on the subject, Chris threw up his arms and announced he was sick of work talk. With everyone finished their main meal, and just chatting, Chris asked the group "So, will we head on over to the bar for some real fun?" Everyone smirked and agreed. Jake still didn't trust the Jarhead, but honestly, his announcement to go to the bar was a god send, Jake needed something to drink, and_ fast._

"Alright then people, lets move."Chris said, everyone standing up and walking out together, followings his lead, in the direction of the bar

Jake smirked and whispered under his breath, "This should be interesting."

* * *

**Its really late in Ireland but i wanted to get this done tonight! bleeech i'll probably have a terrible day at school tomorrow, so leave a review to cheer me up in the morning ;v; 3**

**Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!**


	7. Chapter 7

They had arrived at a small Irish Pub that Leon had taken a liking to, and Jake had to admit, he liked it. When they arrived though, the 3 girl's had retreated into the bathrooms to check make up and such, so Jake was left alone with the Hero and the Jarhead.

"Jake, can i get you a beer?" Leon asked. Jake was still feeling a little on edge by being alone with the 2, he felt perfectly comfortable with the 3 women if anything. "Sure, if you're buying." he answered, which earned him a smirk from both Leon and Chris. They had claimed a big enough table near the back when Leon hopped up to grab the beers he'd ordered, leaving Chris and himself alone

_Great, perfect, exactly what i wanted, fucking wonderful. _"So Jake, anything new?" Chris started. Jake simply shrugged his shoulders and glanced over to the bathrooms, hoping the girls would emerge and break the tension - they sadly didn't.

"Jesus Jake if you're going to act like a spoiled brat for the night go ahead and let me know now." Chris groaned. Jake glared at him furiously, "I can act how ever i damn well please." he barked back. Chris simply rolled his eyes, "Whats your problem with me?", "You killed my father." he quickly replied.

Chris froze momentarily. clearly choosing his next few words carefully, "I had to Jake, I'm sorry you never got to know him, but it wa-", "I don't give a shit about getting to know him, it was my bullet he should of bit, not yours." There, Jake finally said it, he hated Chris for getting revenge on his father while Jake was left with nothing.

"If i hadn't stopped him when i did, Urobourus would of killed thousands upon thousands of people and ripped the world apart, a piece at a time - I'm sorry i didn't send you a text before it all." Jake rolled his eyes and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, he wanted to just walk out of there now, he simply waved at him to show him that he was done with the conversation. Chris sighed, "If its any consolation, I'm sorry Jake."

Jake contemplated his next move, _Punch him in the face or smash it on the table?_ Jake smirked at the thought of either option. "Alright. I don't want this night to be ruined so lets just forget it." Chris nodded and sat back in his chair.

Leon had walked over just a few seconds later with the beer and Jake instantly reached for his, he was about to take a sip when he heard Sherry laughing from just behind him - the girls had emerged from the bathroom, giddy as all hell, and to Jake, they looked the exact same from when they had left the restaurant, _they were in there for a full 20 minutes, what the hell were they even doing? Jesus, I'll never understand women._

Claire and Jill ordered themselves a pint while Sherry had ordered some Coke, and they all sat at the table together chatting, until Leon interrupted, "Alright, lets make a toast - To.. a new beginning, after this mission the world will be a little safer, and we can all start a new chapter." Everyone held their glasses in the air to meet Leon's and repeated "To a new beginning" before clinking glasses with everyone around and taking a drink.

The night was fantastic, everyone was giddy from the buzz of the constant rounds of beer that were being served, and Sherry could see everyone slipping into a clearly drunk state. Leon was the most composed drunk of the lot, while Claire had to be the worst. Jake had had about 5 points of beer and looked completely unfazed from it, Sherry wasn't surprised though, he had a high tolerance to the stuff.

At one point, Claire had drunkenly challenged Leon to an arm wrestle, which she lost miserably. Chris had chimed in saying he would win for her and actually did, Jill teased Leon saying even she could beat Chris in an arm wrestle, which Jake applauded and begged her to show everyone. Jill and Chris were best friends and well as being husband and wife, but when it came to competition, neither backed down. The battle had remained completely even for a good 5 minutes until Chris's arm had suddenly wavered and Jill claimed the chance and pinned his arm.

Jill jumped up from how happy she was, and both her and Jake had stood up and dramatically high-fived. Chris was never too fazed over how competitive Jill got, but he always got a hug from her after, to which everyone at the table shouted an "aaww" that resonated throughout the bar. Leon had gently punched Jake's arm in a challenging way, and the 2 began their match. Claire was chanting Jake's name for him to win which Jill had joined in, and it seemed their shouting had paid off when the thump of Leon's arm on the table was heard and his loud groan.

the two girls high-fived Jake and Claire had eventually gone over to hug Leon in the same way Jill had to Chris, mocking her, which everyone decided to "aaww" at once more, which made Jill's face redden just a little.

It was around 2 am when they all decided to call it a night. Chris and Jill had to be home early enough as they were expecting Jill's parents the following day for lunch, Claire had drunkenly stumbled out with Leon - Leon kept a spare room for both Sherry and Claire, so he never minded taking either one to stay for the night.

Sherry and Jake were walking up the street towards their building hand in hand, quite chatty from the night. "You couldn't let Leon win at least once?" Jake let out a loud "ha" and replied with "Nah, the hero wins enough, it was my turn." Sherry laughed at this and shook her head, "boys" she muttered.

They were leaning against a hand rail in the elevator waiting for it to taken them to their floors when Jake interrupted her day dreaming, "So, have you missed me?" Jake asked with a slight touch of sarcasm in his voice, Sherry could see his tipsy-ness was now showing. "Of course, i miss your sweaty clothes absolutely everywhere and my book shelf messed up badly." she sarcastically remarked. Jake laughed, "Not once did i mess your book shelf." Sherry smiled, "Yes you did, my books were alphabetically organised." Jake glanced at her with a smirk "I re-organised those in order of good to bad, starting with that cheesy romance book that has the spine worn out completely, guess you must like that stuff."

Sherry blushed, "Hey, I'll have you know that's a good book, you're just a boy about everything - movies, books, _everything._" Jake suddenly turned to her and lifted her chin with his right hand, and stroked her cheek with the other, "Oh I'm not so bad, you seemed to like me last night." he whispered, making Sherry turn bright red, he was so close she could smell the alcohol on his breath, usually she hated the smell, but it made her involuntarily lean in, the mixed smell of the drink and Jake's natural musk drew Sherry in like a moth to a flame.

"I kissed you the other night, and you didn't kiss me back - tell me now, do you feel the same way i do?" Jake whispered in her ear, making Sherry shudder from both the warmth in his breath and the impact of his words. "I-i... yes.." she murmured, she could hardly believe Jake was saying this, Sherry had only ever daydreamed about this.

The elevators ding signaled that they had reached Jake's floor, Sherry pursed her lips, preparing to say good bye when Jake gripped her hand and pulled her out with him, "Want to come over for a little while?" he asked, with that persistent grin of his. Sherry opened her mouth to reply but Jake's gently tug was all she needed to talk the sense out of her, she wanted Jake and he wanted her, so she let him guide her to his apartment.

Jake had pulled her into his apartment and in an instant they were all over each other. Sherry couldn't get enough of Jake, the way he tasted was was addictive, and she could never have enough. Jake had peeled his lips from hers and kissed a trail from them to her neck, which made Sherry involuntarily gasp. She had never been with anyone else, and didn't want her inexperience to show, so she allowed him to do as he pleased with her.

In an instant, Jake's hands grabbed her sides and lifted her to his couch, she was about to ask him something when his lips claimed hers, silencing her completely, making her forget what she was even going to say, Jake was making her melt in his arms.

He settled on top of her and was about to pull off her dress when Sherry gasped out, "W-wait Jake i.." Jake licked her neck which made her shudder and lose her train of thought completely. Jake pulled off her dress and took a minute to take in everything about her, he only every got a glance at her when they had been held captive in China, but now he got to see everything, and wanted to take her there and then. "Jake i.. i can't." Sherry gasped out. "I can't.. I can't be a one night stand, I've never.." Jake's eyes widen, almost like he'd been snapped out of a trance.

"You've never.. ?" Sherry slowly nodded, "Like i told you before, I've never even dated anyone else.." Jake nodded, but Sherry could see there was something off about him, he suddenly looked very tired, and slowly he collapsed on top of her. Sherry gasped, "Jake, Jake what's wrong?", and then heard Jake start to lazily snore beside her, Jake looked exhausted from what Sherry could see on his face.

Jake was pretty heavy though, and he was on top of her. _Great, I'm trapped._ She thought. Sherry swallowed a lump in her throat, _Well, you're not going anywhere and you ARE pretty tired, so you have no choice but to stay. _Sherry refused to let herself reflect on what had just happened, but Jake had finally admitted feeling's for her, maybe this could be the start of something new for them, she secretly hoped. Her final thought before dozing off was of Jake's taste, and how she sorely wanted more, that seemed to be a re-occurring subject for her before sleep now, _God Jake, you're driving me insane._

* * *

In the morning, Jake could feel an absolutely huge headache that felt more like someone had planted a sharp, rusty knife into the back of his head rather than a hangover, but the C-Virus would take care of it soon, it usually took it about an hour after he woke up to get to work on his hangover's. He slowly peeled open his eyes and nearly jumped up completely when he saw Sherry's face, among other things. Sherry was nearly naked, save for her bra and panties. _Jesus, what happened last night? Shit, did we.. ?_

Sherry yawned and he felt her attempt to move, but his weight stopped her. Jake's face suddenly reddened from how he had trapped her under his weight,_ I guess this makes us even then, huh Sherry? _Jake stood up and Sherry's eyes immediately opened. Jake decided to get in the first word, "Sherry.. did we uh.. ?" Sherry's eyes widened, "No, don't you remember?" Jake frowned, "To be honest, i can't remember anything passed the toast Leon made, did i do or say anything stupid?"

Sherry's gaze dropped to the ground, _So he doesn't remember what he said to me, or what we even did._ Sherry shook her head, "Nothing worth mentioning." she forced a smile, attempting to convince him of her blatant lie. Jake sighed, "Thank god, I've been told I'm an asshole when i drink." he joked, trying to defuse the tension he could feel growing. Sherry smiled, "You were the perfect gentlemen.", Jake laughed, "As usual."

Jake started breakfast and Sherry took the opportunity to get dressed in his bathroom, she gasped when she realized she had never been home to let Oreo out of her room and ran out of the bathroom, "Jake I'm sorry i have to go, I left Oreo locked in my room all night." Jake nodded, "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow at work then?" Sherry was over at the couch grabbing her purse and turned to face him, smiling, "Of course, and don't forget that Hunnigan's called a meeting for all agent's tomorrow, so i have to be in at 8, and since i'm your ride.." Jake scoffed, "Fantastic, alright I'll be up to your apartment around 7:30 then." Sherry nodded, "Perfect, I'll see you then."

Her hand was on the door's handle when Jake called out, "What's the meeting over?" Sherry let her hand fall to her side, "The case on Africa, i think it's just a brief on the situation for everyone, you know since the D.S.O want to keep everyone updated, if thing's get any worse they're going to need to organize an evacuation for civilians and sterilize the area." Jake frowned with his back turned to Sherry. "This thing's pretty serious, isn't it."

Sherry looked away from him and back to the door, "I don't know much about what's happening but.. from what I've gathered from Leon and Jill, yeah." Jake turned to her, "So what happens if the Hero and his band of loyal followers can't break up this situation?" Sherry bit her lip, "Then the agent's will be evacuated, if thing's truly get out of hand and an evacuation can't be carried out, they may go straight to sterilizing the area."

Jake shook his head, "Typical, the American's are worth more than the innocent by-standers, fucking typical." he spat. Sherry now turned her attention completely to Jake, "What's that suppose to mean?" Jake threw down the whisk and bowl he'd been using to beat a few eggs together on the counter and turned to her, "The American agent's are treated with higher regard than the innocent victim's in all this and it's sickening. The agent's have been _trained_ to handle this stuff and if this shit gets out hand, it's the people _trained_ to handle it will be the ones to get evacuated, and the helpless women and children left to fend for themselves, how is that in anyway fair?" Sherry was now glaring at him, "I understand that they're getting the short end of the stick Jake but that's the _worst case_ scenario. The agent's wouldn't purposefully abandon innocent people, if they could save them, they would." Jake sarcastically laughed, "Yeah? what makes you so sure?"

"Because when my parent's died, and every single person i'd ever known changed into flesh eating monsters - Leon saved me, he didn't have to, but he did it because he was and_ is_ a good man, and he'd never abandon anyone, even if it mean't he'd probably die himself - that's how i know, and Leon is leading these agent's, so i can pretty much guarantee that if Leon see's even the slightest hope of saving anyone, he _will._" Sherry was now fuming, she felt like Jake had, in a way, implied that Leon would be so cold-hearted as to purposefully abandon people, and when anyone tried to insult Leon or Claire, she could promise she'd be there to defend them.

Jake froze, he clearly hadn't thought about what he was saying until Sherry had barked back at him, "Sherry.. look i-" Sherry opened Jake's apartment door, "I'm tired Jake, I have to go." Jake looked defeated, and slightly agitated, which just made Sherry all the more mad. _You have no reason to be mad with me Jake, no god damn reason what so ever._ Jake tried hard to think of something to say to stop Sherry from leaving, he didn't mean to make Sherry mad, hell he wasn't even trying to insult the hero, he was just trying to make a statement, he was hoping that Sherry would come back at him with one of her playful quips, but she clearly didn't.

"A-alright Sherry." was all he said. It slightly stung Sherry that he hadn't referred to her as Supergirl, Sherry was something everyone called her, but Supergirl was a nickname only Jake was allowed use, she knew Jake was sorry but she was too mad at what he'd run his mouth off saying to show him any type of good feelings. Sherry nodded and walked out, closing the door behind her without another word.

Sherry's chest hurt and she let a few tears fall on the way to her apartment, but once she arrived in the safety of her kitchen, she really let them pour. Her tears weren't just over Jake's wrong-place-wrong-time argument, but over everything - How Jake had given her hope that they could be together, how he'd given her a taste then abruptly taken it away, how he blatantly insulted Leon, the only constant thing in her life (other than Claire of course) and how he acted so nonchalantly about it all. _He doesn't love you Sherry, you're kidding yourself if you think he cares, because if he did he wouldn't of done this._

Sherry walked to her room and let Oreo out, he was clearly excited to see her but Sherry couldn't stop her tears. She refilled his bowl with water and food and then quickly walked back to her room, to lie on her bed and cry out her frustrations.

It was around 3 that afternoon when she finally stopped her tears, but even though she'd cried out most of her frustration, she couldn't stop her mind from replaying the entire night in her head, over and over, mocking her.

Sherry had exhausted herself from all the crying, and had slowly drifted into sleep. To her dismay, all she had dreamed about was Jake pinning her against his couch and taking her there and then, making her moan out his name and become putty in his hands. Sherry's brain screamed _He hurt you, he doesn't love you, he's bad for you and is causing you this heartache. _while her heart screamed _He loves you, he messed up now but he cares for you, if he didn't he wouldn't of stuck around this long._

_So, who do i listen to? _She thought.

* * *

**Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, School's a real butt! but like i said, updates will be kept to the weekend and such, but you never know!**

**Ooooohhhh Jake shouldn't run his mouth off so much, he's gone and made a tense situation even worse, wonder how that'll pan out! Laughs menacingly**

**Shameless self plug: As well as this fanfic, I've started writing a second, this I've had the idea for this second one longer, i thought it might be nice to write it all out! i hope you get the time to check it out, if you're interested in more Shake from me ofcourse! It's on my page if you wanna check it out!**

**Review and stuff if you have the time, i appreciate any and all reviews, they make me really happy to read! and have a nice day/night ;v;**


	8. Chapter 8

The following Monday morning, Jake had texted Sherry saying he didn't need a ride to work, Sherry guessed he didn't feel up to talking to her - and honestly, the feeling was mutual for the time being. Jake was Sherry's best friend, but he had spoken out of turn, and insulted Leon and the government she works for, she wasn't just about to let Jake get away with that.

Sherry sighed, her friend and fellow agent Alisha Collins hadn't arrived to the D.S.O just yet, so she sat at her desk as she always did, going over what needed to be done and organizing herself. Sherry got along very well with Alisha. She was a bit quiet, much like Sherry, so they fit together pretty well, and Sherry was pretty happy to not be in a lonely office all day, Alisha was nice company.

Sherry stretched, and glanced at her watch, she had about 10 minutes until the agent meeting. She expected the news to be bad, as did everyone else. It was no secret that the B.S.A.A weren't finding a thing and outbreaks were becoming more frequent. She'd be lying to herself if she said she wasn't bothered by it. She was worried about Leon too, she knew he could hold his own but skilled agents had gone and had not returned from the outbreak site, so there was every possibility he may not either.

She decided to just get up and go, it didn't seem like Alisha would be arriving to their office anytime soon. She was Hunnigan's assistant and was often out helping her with briefs and such, so Alisha was usually out with her, and if she returned to their office, she'd usually be called away soon after.

Sherry collected the papers that were messily scattered on her desk and neatly shuffled them into a pile, leaving them to one side. She stood up and walked out of her office, momentarily lost in her thoughts when she walked straight into someone else's chest. "O-oh sorry! I-" Jake scoffed and playfully shook his head, "Head in the clouds, huh Supergirl?" Sherry looked up to see Jake was smirking, but he looked a little nervous about it

Sherry averted her gaze and redirected it to something in the distance in order to avoid his stare. "Just thinking." she said it with an edge in her voice, more of an edge than she meant to include, but said nothing to apologize for it. Jake simply nodded and handed her the usual attendance form, and turned his heel to walk off when Sherry called out, "So that's it?"

Jake glanced over his shoulder and stared at her, she looked frustrated as all hell. "What's it?" he asked innocently. Sherry shook her head and scoffed, "Forget it, you're not worth the trouble." she coldly replied.

She attempted to walk passed him to get to the conference hall when he grabbed her arm and squeezed it slightly, "Hey! Let me go!" she snapped, Jake clenched his other fist but tried to hide it. he was beginning to get frustrated with this whole silly fight they were having. "Sherry, stop treating me like that." Sherry glared at him, "Treating you like what?"

"Like you don't give a shit about me over some bullshit i said, that i can't even remember because my hangover was substantial." Sherry's stiff arm went still and slightly more relaxed in his grip for a moment, "You insulting Leon and my job - the job i worked my ass off to get - is not 'some bullshit' and you being drunk doesn't justify it."

Jake let her go, and stood completely still for a moment, "How did i insult the hero?" he questioned. Sherry's glare had softened, she attempted to get it back but she just wasn't as annoyed as before, so she simply stared at him, "You.. you basically implied that-" Jake scoffed, "Sherry, i'm too blunt to 'imply' anything, if i wanted to insult Leon, i would of done it. I highly doubt i did anyway, hes not that bad, not as bad as other people." Sherry could guess who he meant by 'other people' - Chris, but if she decided to use his implication against him, she'd be nit picking - simply just looking for ways to be mad at Jake, as her previous reason was now moot.

Sherry bowed her head slightly, at a complete loss for words, _what do i say? i look like an idiot now. _

"Sorry." he mumbled quietly, looking annoyed, avoiding eye contact with her. Sherry was surprised, 'Sorry' wasn't in Jake's dictionary, but Jake had made a valid point and proven his innocence, why was he apologizing? shouldn't it be her to apologize? "Sorry?" she asked

"I _did_ insult your job though, i guess - i mean i barely remember Sunday but it sounds like something id say, and.. yeah." Sherry could tell Jake didn't like this situation at all, admitting he was in the wrong. Sherry realized she was in the wrong too though, "I'm sorry too Jake, lets get over this dumb fight." She smiled reassuringly, which Jake nodded at and smiled.

Jake was about to add something when the D.S.O's intercom chimed the hourly bell, signifying it was 9:00 AM, Sherry's heart nearly skipped a beat, "Oh no I'm late!" she practically yelled, she jogged past Jake towards the door he had previously blocked, "I'm sorry Jake, we'll talk later!", Sherry was already gone before he could say anything, and yet Jake still nodded, and continued onto the gym.

* * *

Jake found that he was slowly getting used to his teaching job. He also found he was warming to the agents, and could say that he probably knew everyone's names now. They often sighed or groaned at Jake's sometimes harsh commands, but they never questioned him - he liked the power that came with his position, sometimes he felt he was abusing it but it felt good.

As he walked into the gym he saw the agents were chatting amongst themselves, doing stretches. "Alright guys, 5 minutes to stretch, then we start on the training course." and with that, Jake walked off to the small seating area in the gym, to re-organize his papers.

"Mr. Muller?" a small voice asked from behind him, Jake glanced over his shoulder to see Sarah, one of the agents he was actually quite fond up, and took particular pride in the fact that she had come so far with him - or as far as one _could_ come in 2 weeks. Still though, Jake had shown her many take down moves and was happy to see with her hard work and determination, she got them down, he at least took pride in that. She was an attract girl, a little short, with long brown hair, messily tied up in a bun, but not too messy.

"Yeah Sarah?" he asked with his usual smirk, Sarah once said it was charming with a hint of asshole. "Could you show me how to do that hold you were showing us yesterday? i can't get it down." Jake nodded and turned to her, "Sure, its hard to pick up but you'll get there, come here." Sarah shyly obeyed and walked up to him, Jake spun her around and grabbed her and held on tight. "First, put your right leg behind mine, kick as hard as you can, you need to get me to fall over, before i hit the ground, get out of my hold, an enemies hold will be loosened at this point obviously. Then you need to spin around towards me and pin me down, easy peasy."

Sarah had to try it about 4 times before she got it, Jake nodded - he was happy with her progress. "Perfect, just keep practicing. Let me know if you want to go over it again." Sarah nodded, "Thanks Mr. Muller." Jake scoffed, "Mr. Muller sounds weird, you know i prefer Jake." Sarah giggled and nodded, "Sorry.. Jake." she shakily said, she wasn't use to calling her instructors by first names, it felt disrespectful, but Jake operated differently than most instructors, so she'd just have to get used to it.

Jake nodded and waved her off, "You better go finishing up stretching, were about to start training." his persistent smirk remained. "Okay, thanks again."

"No worries Sarah." and with that, went back to his work. _Yeah, working here isn't the worst use of my time i guess._

* * *

"Here are the outbreak's numbers from last week, and here are the numbers we received this morning from the B.S.A.A." Ingrid Hunnigan gestured towards the picture on a screen using a small laser pointer. The map from last week showed about 7 villages having outbreaks, the more updated one from this morning showed a total of 23 villages. The agent's gasped at the huge spike, and loud chatter broke out. Hunnigan had to yell to get everyone's attention, "People, please - i understand these numbers are alarming, but please allow me to get through with the meeting.", which ended most, if not all chatter.

She began again, switching the slide show to the next slide, it showed some pictures that were taken from the sites - Ravaged towns, dead bodies, blood, it was graphic to say the least. Most people - including Sherry had to cringe at them.

"I'm not going to lie, we have the best of the D.S.O's agents in this room, who all have earned the right to be trusted with this confidential information and i _cannot_ stress the importance of it remaining confidential, so i'll cut to the chase. We know no more about this situation than we did 3 weeks ago, we have_ no_ leads, not even a single name. These people are good, good at covering there tracks. We suspect that there center is here, but we can't pinpoint it obviously.

We did however, get some information this morning. It may seem insignificant, but i have a theory." Hunnigan switched to the next slide, showing 2 buildings on fire, they looked like huge warehouses. "The burning building on the right is a building found in Djado in Niger, it was burned about 3 weeks ago - the firemen who put it out reported it as an accident. From the photos we found with the case's file, we found various lab equipment, as well a large, badly burnt test chamber, which we believe all make up the components of a B.O.W manufacturing lab, the photo on the left is from Warri in Nigeria, there were variations that were found inside the lab, no test chamber was found - instead, a large glass case, for what that was used for, we have no clue.

My theory is that the people behind this are using buildings then moving on, constantly moving their center, so it will be a challenge to apprehend those responsible."

Loud chatter broke out again. Hunnigan kept her cool and was unfazed by the reaction. "The D.S.O cannot afford to send more agent's than are necessary, so to add to Agent Kennedy's party that are leaving in a week, we are opening spaces for 2 more agents, applicants should report to me within the next 2 days, my decision will be known on wednesday. Thank you all for attending, i call this mission adjourned." and with that, the attending agents shook Hunnigan's hand and shuffled out.

As Sherry walked back to her office, she was a little torn. _God id be perfect for this! I haven't been on a field mission in ages, but Jake.. _She had the sudden urge to beat her head against her desk when she walked into her office. Everyone who was at that meeting were probably going to reply to Hunnigan's job offer, so even if Sherry applied she'd probably be over looked, but she still wanted to apply anyway, badly. _Idiot! what about Jake? he's only here to be your field partner, and he can't until next year, he wouldn't let me go! _True, Jake would probably yell at the very notion._ Hey, well.. no harm in applying, right? though, if i'm going to apply, i'm already giving myself hope.. i'll tell Jake if i find the right moment._

Sherry's phone chimed, and she pulled it out to see a text from Jake had been received

To: Supergirl

From: Jake

_'Could i hitch a ride home?'_

Sherry smiled at her screen, and typed her reply

To: Jake

From: Sherry

_'Sure, See you then.'_

Locking her phone and putting it back in her pocket, she sat at her desk - ready to dive into the remaining reports she had yet to start. She sighed, Alisha hadn't returned. _Shocking_ she mused. Sherry picked up a stack of papers and powered on her laptop, and began typing out reports. _I haven't started any of these reports and the 2 of them have to be in by tomorrow, today's going to be a long day._

And it surely was.

Sherry had to skip both of her lunch break's in order to finish one report and barely scratch the surface on the second, but she was happy she had. Because she started the second one, she had peace of mind knowing that her report guide was outlined, so all she had to do was fill in the gaps.

The car journey was a little quiet, the silence was only broken by the radio Sherry had turned on. Sherry gripped her steering wheel and decided to bite the bullet, "So, about the meeting today."

Jake eyed her curiously, "Yeah?" Sherry took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, _now or never Birkin._

"Space opened up for 2 more agent's in Leon's party, Hunnigan appealed to everyone at the meeting to apply for the position." Jake's attention switched to the rear view mirror, "Oh yeah?"

"I think.. i might apply Jake."

Jake instantly turned to her, his mouth hung open but there were no words, not for what seemed like 2 years. "You.. you should go for it Sherry." he muttered. It hurt to know Sherry wanted to go on this mission and he wasn't qualified to go with her, but Sherry was a field agent and this was her job, weither Jake liked it or not.

Sherry looked over at him then quickly back to the steering wheel, "What? really? but don't you want to come?" Jake nodded, "Obviously Sherry, but i can't now. whats the point in beating a dead horse."

Sherry nodded and smiled softly, "Thank you Jake, I'll have Leon with me you know! I'll be in good hands."

Jake smiled, seeing her happy was one of the cutest things he'd ever seen, he always loved the way she smiled.

"So.. when do you go?" Jake inquired

"Well, there's no guarantee i'll even get it, but if i do, i'm leaving Saturday."

Jake nodded, a little less cockily than before. "Don't worry, you'll get it, You're the best agent they've got, with you on the case, the B.O.W manufacturers will be pissing themselves."

Sherry playfully smacked his arm, "Why, of course, I'm tall dark and lethal." she laughed, "More like short, light and hyper."

Sherry's laughter persisted, "Well, those too."

her laughing eventually subsiding._ I hope we get a chance to talk before if i get to go to Africa, well, IF being the keyword._

Sherry was nervous, but excited - she adored field work, loved it much more than filing documents anyway.

Little did Sherry know Jake was wrapped in his own world. _Don't worry Sherry, if you go over there, I'll catch the next flight and follow you, not hiding under the cocky title of an agent or anything, as me, and fuck any jar head fuck in the B.S.A.A or D.S.O that think you're there's to protect_

_You'll never be anyone else's to protect Sherry, only mine._

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, life! what are you gonna do *sobs***

**and sorry this chapter is a bit small, the stuff that's going next i just moved to chapter 9, hope that's okay! ;v;**

**Enjoy! and R&R if you have the time as usual!**


	9. Chapter 9

Sherry felt bad, to say the least.

She felt that in someway, she had insulted Jake - slapping him in the face for applying for this job without him. She wished she didn't, the bad feeling in her stomach dampened her growing excited mood. It was Monday night and Sherry had just returned from the D.S.O, she had gone back after she dropped Jake home as she wanted to have the application filled out and ready, and had also promised Jake some dinner.

Having no time to of actually prepared anything, she got some Chinese food - their regular order of course. Sherry was about to knock on Jake's door when she heard him yelling inside. She bit her lip, contemplating just leaving all together or knocking and risk having Jake in one of his moods all night over whatever he was shouting about. Sherry then realized if she just walked away, Jake obviously would of noticed, after all, she had told him she'd be there at 7:00 PM with their food

It was now 7:08 and Sherry was awkwardly standing outside of his door with their dinner that's delicious smell was teasing Sherry, and for that reason, decided to knock.

Jake opened the door a few moments later, talking on his phone, She smiled and walked passed him without a word. "I don't get it, you said you were ready, you said you were _excited!_ this is bullshit, fucking bullshit!" Jake roared into the phone. Sherry busied herself with laying out the food, pretending not to be interested, but she was now very curious.

Jake didn't speak for a few moment's, then scoffed. "Don't give me that shit, those tickets were non refundable!" Jake was now nervously pacing the room, getting increasingly annoyed with every word from the other end. "Yeah well i work for the D.S.O now, so technically i _did_ pay for them, that's besides the point anyway - You said you'd be here next week, what do i do about reorganizing flights? they were a pain in the ass to work out in the first place!"

Jake sighed and ran his fingers through his short hair, he looked frustrated and exhausted. "Jesus ma, well i'm going to fucking have to now. I'll call you in a few days and see what we can organize." Jake paused, and sighed, "Love you too ma, and_ don't_ cancel this flight out of fucking nowhere again, I'm paying for 1 more flight and 1 more flight only, alright, bye." and with that, hung up his phone.

Jake groaned loudly and sat at the table beside Sherry. Sherry raised an eyebrow, "Your mom?" she innocently questioned. Jake closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. "She said she's 'busy' for the next 2 weeks, and that she can't come on the flight for Thursday, i had to find out she cancelled the flight through the D.S.O, she didn't even call to tell me, can you believe that?"

Sherry frowned, "Aw, I'm sorry Jake, i know you're excited to have her here but she'll be here soon!" she happily beamed. Jake shook his head, "It's weird as hell though, my moms not usually this secretive, and she sounded really tired on the phone.. " he trailed off, and Sherry noticed a change in him, "She's sick, she has to be sick." Jake added. Sherry looked down at the table, noticing neither had touched their food, she guessed Jake wasn't hungry anymore.

Sherry shook her head, "Hey, maybe she just has a bit of a cold or flu or something? its that time of year again. Claire told me she caught a nasty flu of her own last week, its season change." Jake didn't seem convinced, but he nodded slowly without looking at her, "Yeah, yeah maybe.." he thought aloud.

After a few tense and long moment's staring at Jake, who was now lost in thought, eventually started eating his Chicken Satay, _Thank god, I'm starving!_ she happily thought, and ate her fried noodles. Sherry hated seeing Jake sad - or anyone for that matter - so she decided to attempt to lighten the mood with some stories and the mission in Africa. The mission in Africa made Jake sit upright and attentively listen to her every word.

"They've got more theories than they do concrete proof." she sighed. "Just feel's like this will be a wild goose chase, but I'm ready for it, my mission to locate you felt like a wild goose chase too, and just look how that turned out!" she laughed, and Jake couldn't help but smirk. "I'm a wild goose chase?" he asked innocently, but Sherry knew he was just being his sarcastic self. "Your group moved around so much, i had been tracking you for a good 2 weeks before i actually got a hold of you - every time i got close you all had moved on!"

Jake laughed this time, "We kind of had to keep moving Sherry, not the best decision to stand still in a war zone." he stated. "Well, whatever." she sighed, smiling and shaking her head. "Are you guys heading out next week?" he asked. Sherry shrugged, "_IF_ i get the job, i suppose so." Jake nodded and his stare dropped to his food, which Sherry noticed he was now nervously playing with. "Aww.. will you miss me Jakey?" she asked sweetly. "You know i _hate_ that name, Sherrbert." he replied nonchalantly, which she scoffed at, "and you know i hate _that_ name!"

They spent most of the night chatting like they usually did, making jokes, sharing stories, and even played a game of cards. Jake preferred card games and reading to TV's and more technological entertainment. Sherry liked that and wish she could be more like him in that sense, but she had to admit she couldn't live without her girly romantic comedies she watched when she got home from work. They had a great time, but Sherry could tell Jake was distracted the whole time. _He's worried about his mom Sherry, you'd be too if you were in his position._

Sherry had just won her first game of Snap when she noticed the time out of the corner of her eye, "What? 12:10 already?" she said in disbelief. Jake yawned, "Guess we better call it a night then, huh?" Sherry nodded and frowned, they were having a great time and Sherry honestly hated going back to her empty apartment night after night, hopefully she'd get the mission and have a break from normal life for a little while. There was nothing wrong with her life, but field mission's spiced up her otherwise quiet and even sometimes dull life in New York.

"I only barely said hi to Oreo this morning, the poor guy must think i hate him, i haven't walked him for 4 days." Sherry bit her lip, she silently promised to herself to get her report done at work and take Oreo for a nice long walk afterwards. Jake smiled, "I understand, Oreo comes first in the Birkin household." Sherry nodded again, this time smiling. "Why, of course." Sherry picked up her handbag and made a beeline for the door. "Thanks Jake, i had a great time." she said before walking out. Jake had stood to collect plates and nodded, "Anytime Sherrbert." Sherry scoffed loudly, "Can we stick to Supergirl please?" Jake shrugged and smirked at her, which always made her blush slightly, "Whatever you want." he stated and winked at her playfully.

Sherry let out a short laugh and waved to Jake before walking out, shutting the door softly behind her. _I still feel bad that Jake isn't coming with me, he clearly wasn't impressed when i said when i was going.. i know he told me to go but he was just being nice.. auugh._

Sherry unlocked her door with a soft click and was greeted with a very excited puppy. She got down and one knee and softly stroked his soft head, "Hey buddy, i missed you too." she whispered. She was about to head for her bed when she noticed her smart phone that she had left on the kitchen table had an alert message on the screen. She picked it up and saw that the screen read "4 missed calls."

Sherry frowned. _4 missed calls, who died? _she silently joked with herself to try and calm her nerves, but it didn't work, in fact it made Sherry more nervous and dreaded to see who the call was from. _4 missed calls from: I. Hunnigan_

Sherry bit her lip nervously_, oh shit, what did i do? did i forget a report? _Sherry swallowed a lump in her throat and before she could call back, the phone chimed her ring tone, and the screen read_ Incoming call from: I. Hunnigan_ Sherry sighed, fearing the worst. "Hello?" she asked, trying to mask the nerves in her voice.

"Sherry, good i got you. The mission's been moved up, you and agent Brent have been chosen to go with Leon's party for the investigation, and you will be leaving Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM from JFK, you have tomorrow off of work to prepare, but please come in to my office to collect your plane tickets and brief at some point. Call me if you have any questions regarding the misson." she said. "Okay, thank you Director Hunnigan." her voice remained calm and collected, but she was excited,_ I'm actually going! _"My pleasure Sherry, see you tomorrow." and with that, she hung up.

For a long few minutes she stood completely still, allowing Hunnigan's words to sink in, repeating _I'm going, I'm really going!_ over and over in her head. She scooped up Oreo in her arms and rocked him back and forth while planting kissing on the top of his head. "I'm going Oreo, I'm going on the mission! Guess who's going to be staying at Jake's for a while!" she squealed. Oreo licked her nose and she giggled and set him down again, to avoid making him dizzy and sick from all the jumping around she was doing. She stopped dead in her track's when she realized what she had just said, "Jake.. I'm going the day after tomorrow.. i wanted to have a good bye dinner and everything.." she said aloud. "I'll be way too busy packing and making sure everything's going to be taken care of tomorrow though, i'll have no time for a dinner.." She plopped down on her couch and sighed. She was excited but many thing's needed to be sorted before she could actually feel _truly_ excited.

"Hey! Oreo, why don't we invited Jake over tomorrow?" she asked her puppy eagerly, he simply stared at her with a confused expression. "Sure, we'll explain everything then." and with that, she headed to her room, she was actually pretty exhausted after her day, and her head was now spinning between the nerves, the excitement and the anxiety. _Tomorrow's gonna be a long day._ she thought.

She settled beneath the blankets, trying to calm her excitement so she could actually fall asleep. Needless to say, it took her a good hour to actually calm down before she dozed off.

* * *

The next morning, Jake softly knocked on Sherry's door around 2:10 PM. Jake was always extremely impatient, so when the door went unanswered, Jake knocked again, this time more like banging than knocking, "Hey Supergirl, open up!" he yelled. Sherry had been in her room, turning it upside down looking for her passport when she heard Jake yelling from the door. Sherry raised an eyebrow and slowly walked out, "Relax Jake, I'll be there in a minute!" she yelled back.

Sherry had just had a shower so she was wearing short pajama shorts and a long sleeved top she slept in. Her original plan was to have a lazy day, relax in her comfy PJ's, pack the bare essentials, go over her brief, watch some TV, and call Jake around 5 or so when she knew he'd be back from work. Sherry was confused to say the least though, _didn't Jake have work today?_

She threw a hoodie on over her long sleeved top and decided to leave the shorts untouched. She answered the door, throwing Jake a quizzical look, "Decided to skip work?" she questioned. Jake laughed and shook his head, "Not really, the recruits had to go to a Crime psychology thing all day today so i got off." Jake held up the jacket Sherry had worn the night before and smirked, "You left this behind you yesterday."

Sherry sheepishly took her jacket feeling a little embarrassed. "Oops, thanks Jake." Jake nodded and smirked at her shorts, "Just waking up?" he asked. Sherry laughed and shook her head, "Afraid not, just a lazy day." her smile faded and she stood away from the door, inviting Jake in, "And packing."

"Packing?" he asked, throwing her a very confused glance. Sherry bit her lip, "I got the mission, but they're shipping me out tomorrow first thing." she mumbled the last part, and instantly dropped her gaze to the ground. Jake slowly nodded, taking in her words and running them over in his head. "Wait.. tomorrow? just like that? gone? what the hell.. the DSO can't just do that!" Jake practically yelled. His fists were clenched and Sherry could practically feel the anger radiating off of him.

"Well they want me to go out tomorrow, so.." she stated uneasily. Jake realized he was pretty pissed, his original plan was to get a flight to Africa without her knowing and meet up with her without the DSO knowing - they definitely wouldn't allow Jake to go as an agent until he was finished with the 1 year training, and would stop him if he said he was going to go anyway. He wasn't about to let Sherry out his sight, but she was leaving tomorrow, now Jake couldn't plan ahead to be there earlier than her. _What if she moves too fast and i can't track her, then she gets hurt? fuck, what do i do.._ Jake let out a breathe he hadn't realized he'd been holding and unclenched his fists. "That's.. awesome Sherry, i knew you'd get it." he smiled and hugged her, trying to let her know he wasn't mad with her, he needed her to think he was fine.

Sherry stood still for a minute in his hold, then slowly eased up. "Thanks Jake.. is there anyway i could ask for a favor?" she asked, looking up at him. Jake looked down and nodded, "Yeah, whats going on?" Sherry smiled and tried to stifle a giggle, "Could you babysit Oreo while i'm gone?"

Jake chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, i can do that."

Sherry gently snuggled into his chest, like she'd always done when he stayed with her in her bed to keep the nightmares away. He always made her feel safe and protected. Jake wrapped his arms around her waist and held her for a few more minutes. "Please Sherry, take care of yourself." he whispered against her ear. Sherry nodded slowly against his chest, "I always do Jake."

They spent the next 10 minutes talking, Jake picked up Oreo while Sherry ran around grabbing his toys, bowl, bed and food, telling Jake this that and the other that had to be done while he took care of Oreo like feeding times, walks, and a reliable vet that Sherry was seeing, she also gave him a spare key to her apartment just in case she had forgotten something for Oreo. As Jake was getting ready to leave, Sherry grabbed his arm and he looked back to her. "I'll text you and let you know how everything's going whenever i can, okay?" Jake nodded and smiled, "Then i guess I'll keep you updated on this end too. Bye Sherry, take care of yourself, i'll be here waiting for you, and so will Oreo."

Sherry nodded and Jake could of sworn that she was about to cry but she didn't. she simply smiled and kissed Oreo on the head, and gave Jake one last hug before retreating into her apartment.

The day had gotten away on Sherry, it was already 6 PM and she hadn't a lot packed, and her brief wasn't even read. She had time though. She went back to her room and resumed looking for her passport. She found it in the back of her wardrobe almost immediately, _Thank god i found it, or else i wouldn't be going anywhere._

Sherry had found her passport in a private little shoe box at the back of her wardrobe, where she kept a few small tokens of her life that were important to her. It had wrote on the top "Special things." in scribbly untidy writing. Sherry and Claire had come up with the idea for the box when she was 13 in government custody. Claire was so afraid that Sherry was going to fall into depression from losing her parents and being kept isolated and treated as a science experiment that she came up with the idea for Sherry to have a box filled with reminders of what she loved.

Inside, were many photo's of Claire and Sherry making funny faces, or playing games together. Leon was there too, there was a small scrap book she and Claire had made of photos of just Leon, Claire and Sherry when Leon had practically begged Simmons to allow Sherry out for a day. Sherry had never been to the beach so Claire and Leon had decided to take her there. They sunbathed, bought her ice cream, (attempted) to surf, and ate lunch on the boardwalk, and had taken pictures of all of it. Her scrap book consisted of only that day. Sherry remembered it fondly, and was probably the only happy day of her government custody.

Sherry also had copies made of her parents pictures that were inside the locket she wore and never took off. She had their pictures inside her shoe box too, as well as on her bedside table, but the most recent picture she had added was a picture of Jake and herself. The picture itself was cut from a Chinese newspaper Sherry had spied in the airport when she was about to fly home. She had no idea what the headline was, but the picture was of Jake frowning and looking away, while he held Sherry's hand. She had yet to get a picture of him smiling. She had a picture of him on her phone smirking, sure, but not _smiling. _Not a real genuine smile. She had promised herself that she'd get a picture of that someday, but the opportunity had not showed itself yet.

Sherry sighed. _Mom, Dad, please watch over me on this mission, and watch over Jake too. Keep me safe until this mission's over. _she silently asked.

Little did she know that no amount of begging or pleading anyone would help her in the slightest for what she was about to stumble upon.

She wouldn't be returning from this mission the same as she'd be going.

* * *

**Sorry for the delay in updates! schools a butt, yada yada**

**Yay, i can finally start writing about the mission next chapter, WOOTS~**

**Jake, what are you planning to do.**

**Thanks for the reviews as usual! and if you liked this chapter, maybe you'll review it!**

**Have a nice day~**


	10. Chapter 10

"Make sure not to feed him too much, a bowl in the morning and a bowl in the evening should suffice, i don't want him to be fat when i get back Muller." Sherry warned.

Jake rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, i know how to take care of a dog Sherry, you told me everything yesterday." Sherry was kneeling down, stroking her puppies soft ears and smiling, "I know i know, i just wanted to see Oreo one last time, and remind you of everything." Sherry did want to see Oreo one last time in all honesty, but she also wanted to see Jake too, she wasn't sure how long this mission would really be, so she wanted to soak up as much time with them as possible. "And you promise to walk him as often as you can?" she asked, Jake groaned and nodded, "Yes Sherry, we've been over this."

Sherry gave her puppy one final scratch on his ear before releasing him back into Jake's apartment to play with his toys, it smelled of paint but the smell was faint enough. "Thank's for this Jake, i really appreciate it." she smiled and hugged him. Jake gently stroked her back and nodded, "Of course, now go and save the world Supergirl, we'll be waiting here, and i swear to god if you don't bring me back a shirt." Sherry laughed and gently broke their hug to look over to Oreo. He was happily playing with a duck chew toy, one Jake had bought him a few weeks ago.

"I'll text you when i get over and keep you updated, i still don't know your reason behind wanting to stay so updated with me though." she smirked at him, "Will you be worried?" Jake walked over to fetch Oreo's water bowl and filled it with some milk. He found Oreo liked it more than water oddly enough. "Sure i will, you're my best friend."

Sherry was generally surprised, Jake had never referred to Sherry as his best friend privately before. She blushed and smiled at his warm words, "Well I'm glad, I better be heading off though, my flight won't wait for me sadly."

"Why aren't the DSO having one of their private copters flying the agent's over by the way?" Sherry shrugged, "Just in case the mission is compromised in anyway - like if the guy running all this happen's to spot the copter and shoot's it down, if all the agent's travel by public transportation, theirs less suspicion."

"Makes sense." he stated, busying himself with Oreo's bowl that was well filled by now, he tried to make it look like it was taking a while to fill so he didn't have to meet Sherry's stare.

Sherry checked her watch, "Okay, now i really have to go. Be good Jake, I'll see you soon, and wish me luck!" she smiled and gave him one last hug, "Good luck, you'll do great," he assured her, then walked over to Jake's door and just like that, she was gone. They had had the big teary-eyed - or as close to one - good bye the previous night, so Sherry wasn't about to cry.

Jake stood still for a few minutes, awaiting the clink of Sherry's high heeled boots to trail off into nothing but a muffled sound down the hall. Once he was sure Sherry was gone, he practically ran to his room to grab his phone and a laptop Sherry had given him to keep, she had a much better laptop so Jake was given a quite old model. The thing was terribly slow, but it ran and was free, so beggar's can't really be choosers.

He opened his laptop to see the Airline's page was still open thankfully, and instantly dialed the number that was at the top of the web page. He waited for the beeping of the phone to stop for what seemed like hour's, but eventually, heard a soft "Hello, American Airlines, how can i help you?"

"I need a ticket to Nigeria, when's the next flight?" Jake heard typing on the other end, then the woman's reply, "There is a flight leaving in an hour sir." _that's the one Sherry's on._ "No good, what's next?" he asked, more typing on the other end. "Tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM." she replied.

Jake sat still, thinking. _Jesus she could be miles away by then, its gonna have to do i guess._ He sighed, "Alright, that sound's good, thanks." without awaiting for the woman's reply he hung up. He didn't really care if it came off as rude or not, he had Sherry to worry about and Sherry took priority over proper telephone etiquette. Jake went to the Airlines website and wearily ordered his ticket's, he preferred to buy them over the phone but since he was still getting used to using email and all that, he wanted do this by himself._ Jesus, between my flight and my mom's after this mission, i'll be fucking broke paying this airline for tickets._

Jake had left his mother a short text, something along the lines of _'Something came up with the DSO, we're going to have to post-pone the visit, will let you know soon.' _that morning, so that was one obligation taken care of. The second was the little black puppy chewing on a rubber duck beside his foot. "Maybe.. Claire." he thought aloud. Jake had found he got along with Claire and Jill very well, and girls love puppies, so it should be perfect. He left Claire a text and once it was sent, he shoved the phone into his pocket and went to his room to pack a small ruck-sack of some clothes, money, and a small knife and gun.

If airport security even tried to stop him with the weapon's, he could simply pull the provisional DSO badge Hunnigan gave him a week or 2 ago out, and sweet talk his way out of the situation. It said agent-in-training on the front but Jake managed to scratch the In-training part off, he was sure if Hunnigan had to see that, Jake would get a mighty scolding.

After a few awkward strokes of the Keyboard key's and a click or two, Jake had his tickets ordered. All he had to do was print his tickets next. He groaned loudly upon realizing Sherry hadn't given him a printer of any sort, and the site sadly required him to print them, so he decided to use Sherry's apartment key to borrow the use of hers, not like she'd care or be there to even catch him. Jake was about to walk out the door when his phone chimed its received message tone, a simple_ 'No problem, I'll collect him from you later.'_ from Claire.

He raised an eyebrow at the reply. No 'where are you going'? No 'Why can't you take care of him yourself'? _that's weird, Sherry had always said Claire picked up on everything and anything almost immediately.._ Jake awkwardly shifted in place for a moment trying to think. _Maybe she's not as clever as Sherry makes her out to be._ He silently joked with himself, but it didn't quench his curiosity.

Jake walked up to Sherry's apartment and opened the door. He was greeted with the fresh scent of Vanilla, the whole apartment smelled exactly like her - it was a smell he loved and couldn't get enough of, he had missed it when he moved out.

It was a little messy, but it was the same old apartment. Sherry's small kitchen with colorful fruits in a bowl on her table, the calming blue color on the walls that went well with Sherry's White work-top's, the vase at the end of the small hall with the fake roses that always smelled gorgeous as Sherry would spray perfume on them, the large DVD collection in the small sitting room that Jake probably new better than Sherry, the comfy couch where Jake and Sherry had slept one night, and her bedroom..

Jake loved Sherry's bedroom the most. It held an assortment of photos on the wall, and he loved going through them and asking Sherry about them, which she loved. All of the photo's were of Claire, Jill, Chris or Leon. Their was one picture that Jake loved more than the rest though, a picture of Sherry, Claire and Leon when Sherry was only 13 or so. She had a red hair band in her hair, and was in a white and red dress. Jake always smiled at the picture when he saw it, she looked adorable in it.

Completely forgetting the printer, and wanting to see the picture, Jake made a beeline straight for Sherry's room. When he walked in he discovered it was even more messy than the rest of the apartment - there were clothes littered all over the floor, her wardrobe was wide open and a box seemed toppled over, its contents spread around the floor. _Weird, usually shes so neat and tidy._

Jake was about to walk straight to the back wall where the photo was, when he spied something on the ground, a picture of.. him?

He walked over and picked up what looked like a photo album. It was a neat photo album, with all glossy pictures, unbent and stuck onto the pages, but their was a crinkled newspaper article cut out on top of the perfect pages. Jake picked it up and stared at it for a moment, before smirking. It was a picture of him and Sherry, from a Chinese News paper. The headline read _Lovers among the ruins._ Jake admired Sherry in the picture, she looked concerned about something, while he looked frustrated. He let out a short laugh at the title, then immediately stopped. _Wait, does Sherry know what this says? what if she does, what if thats why shes keeping it? does she..._

Jake felt the vibration of his phone before he heard the phone call alert tone, and when he took it out of his pocket, he saw it was Claire. Sliding his finger on the screen to answer, he held it up to his ear. "Claire." Jake said.

"Jake, I'll be there in 10 minutes, sorry it took me so long to get going, Chris was heading out to Africa and i went over to wish him luck." Claire sounded a little out of breath, Jake heard close together steps in the background guessed she was running down the steps of her apartment building or running out to her bike, running at the least. "Yeah no problem, see you then." and with that, hung up.

Jake gently set down the album and newspaper article as he had found it, and went out to Sherry's main sitting area to find her cute silver macbook, their was a hell of a comparison with Jake's clunky black and extremely old Toshiba laptop. He quickly printed off his tickets and was out the door, not forgetting to lock it.

By the time Jake got back down to his apartment, he saw Claire checking her phone with her back to his door, she looked up when the door's to the elevator opened and Jake stepped out. "Jake, where'd you go? I was about to call you" she asked, locking her iPhone and putting it away.

"Left something at Sherry's yesterday." he stated. Claire looked at the laptop and paper Jake had a hold of under his right arm. She couldn't really see anything as Jake had the paper folded, but she could barely make out the word 'Airlines' and made the connection that he was flying off somewhere, but decided to not say anything, not until she baited him to tell her.

Claire nodded at him, and he opened his apartment for them. Oreo ran into Claire's leg and Jake heard her squeal that girl's often did over puppies, kittens or hot actors. "Hey cutie!" Claire squealed out, scooping Oreo in her arms and stroking his back. Jake had gotten a bag and was filling it with toys and food. "Here's all his food and shit, bed's over there." he gestured to a small brown pillow that resided beside his couch without taking his eyes away from the cupboard he was taking Oreo's food from.

Claire nodded, "So, why can't you take care of him? big date tonight or something?" she teased. "No." Jake replied instantly. Claire had to smile and how sudden his defensive reply was.

He set down the bag on the table and looked at Claire dead in the eye, "I'm going to Africa, i need to keep an eye on Sherry. The DSO wont let me over until i finish this dumb ass fucking training and i can't just let her go by herself."

Claire smiled, "You really care about her, don't you?" Jake's face slightly reddened and suddenly pretended to be extremely interested in the content's of the bag. "I dunno, i guess." he sheepishly replied.

Claire giggled and took the bag, "Cute. When you guys gets back, you should tell her."

"Tell her what?" Jake asked, pretending he hadn't a clue what she was talking about. "That you like her, its so obvious to everyone that it physically hurts." she stated, taking the bag and gently rocking Oreo, he seemed to be dozing off.

Jake shrugged. He guessed it was a little obvious, so there was no use in denying it. "Whatever." he mumbled, walking over to his door to open for Claire, who was having a hard time opening it, her hands were full. "Are you on your bike, or..?"

She shook her head, "Nah, Jill drove me over, want to come down and say hey?" Jake glanced over to his ruck sack, then shook his head, "Sorry Claire, i have to come up with a cover for the DSO and get a few thing's sorted." Claire nodded and smirked, "You need an alibi?"

Jake shrugged, "Yeah, i guess. Don't need the DSO getting all suspicious when i suddenly need a few weeks off." Jake leaned against the door frame. he couldn't blow his chance of getting in good with the DSO, but he needed to keep an eye on Sherry no matter what.

"Did Sherry ever tell you the story of group vacation? you know, with me, Chris, Jill, her and Leon, over in England?" She asked, smiling wide at the memory she was reflecting on. Jake nodded, she had told him the day they had lost electricity and were eating popcorn. "Yeah, what about it?"

"The DSO wouldn't let Sherry off for those 2 week's, so Jill was able to get her off the hook, apparently Jill and Hunnigan go way back so Jill has got some pull."

Jake raised an eyebrow, "What are you saying?" he asked, a little skeptical. Claire shook her head smiling, "Relax Jake, consider your alibi taken care of, Jill will come up with something. Just watch out for Sherry, she's yours to take care of now."

Jake nodded in understanding, Claire was giving him his blessing. He gently pulled Claire into a hug. "Thanks Claire, for everything."

Claire giggled, "You make it sound like you're going off to die. I swear if you don't keep an eye out for Sherry or die, both me and Leon will go find your corpse and kick it for a while until it disintegrates." she stated

Jake laughed and nodded, "Don't worry, i don't really plan on biting a bullet as a way to go." Claire sighed softly and nodded, "Alright well, Jill's waiting for me. Take care of yourself Jake, you and her, watch each others backs, who the hell knows what sick bastard is behind all this."

"Thanks Claire, will do." he waved at her and she walked out the door and gently closed to door when she walked away. _Alright, that's everything then. _Jake sighed, looking around his apartment, the first ever home he'd ever had by himself. Their were times when Jake wished he could of lived alone when he was 19 or so, when he saw an improvement in his mother's health, but never had the money to do it.

Now he was living alone, but he now badly wanted to be stretched out on a certain blondes couch, reading her surprisingly interesting books and listening to her sweet voice. The minute he finally had the lone wolf independent life he'd always wanted, he wanted nothing more than to be with Sherry. She had changed him drastically, she made him feel safe and worthy, not some piece of shit gun for hire.

_Yeah, I'll tell her everything when were back. The mission wont be the right place to tell her something so important, and if i do she may even play it off as a joke, so it'll have to wait._

Jake checked the time, it wasn't even 12 yet, so he decided to throw on some old sweats and go for a run. He brought an old iPod that Sherry had, once again gave him. All Sherry had time to put on it was an AC/DC album, but that was fine with him. Though, the whole run, Jake's mind went a million miles a minute trying to figure out how he'd tell Sherry how he felt. When he ran passed one of Sherry's favorite restaurants, he decided he'd take her there and tell her everything.

Jake was sure he was tired, but he just kept running, he needed to think of a strategy, of everything before he went home. In all, Jake had gone on a 2-3 hour run and had planned out everything. He decided the best course of measure was to track Sherry's phone, Jake had requested she text him religiously to keep him updated, so regular texts and or calls should give him a decent way to track her - that is, if luck was on his side this time around.

* * *

"And for you ma'am?" a hostess asked Sherry, "Tea please, with milk and a spoon of sugar." she replied sweetly, flashing the hostess a smile and returning to her daydreaming out the airplanes window. Sherry was about 7 hours into her flight, and had gone over her mission's strategy plan about three times out of boredom, so she could safely say she could recite the whole thing if asked.

She was more than prepared, she was known for how quickly she was able to adapt to quick changing situations, she just hoped the situation wouldn't be _too_ changeable. The sky was starting to get dark and Sherry had a few hours to go before she'd arrive, the brief said it'd be about 2 in the morning there when they arrived, so they could travel with the cover of night giving them better cover.

Sherry looked up to see the hostess, who was preparing her tea, and took it graciously from her. She took one long sip, letting the sweet liquid go down her throat and warm her up. She shivered from how nice the sudden heat felt on her throat, and smiled when she let her head rest on the Airplane's window once again. Sherry thought about texting Jake, but she'd only been gone for a few hours, and she didn't want to come off as needy, plus, it was probably late back in New York, Jake wouldn't appreciate being woken up over a silly_ How are you? _from her

She decided to take out her phone anyway and text Claire instead via Skype instead, she was feeling a little nervous over landing and Claire was always good for calming her nerves.

_Hey Claire, should be landing soon. beyond nervous._ She gently tapped the send button and watched the sending progress bar eagerly. _Sending.. Sending... _Her phone popped an alert message up_ Sending Failed - No internet Connection, message has been saved to drafts. _It read. Sherry was confused, the plane she was on offered WiFi, it was the specific reason she had even chose it, so why wasn't her phone co-operating?

Sherry was pulled from her own little world when she heard mild chatting behind her turn to a very loud discussion. "Excuse me but i paid a lot to have WiFi on this plane, i have to email a report to my boss before i land!" one man yelled. "We understand sir, we're currently working to resolve the situation." a nervous sounding hostess replied.

"Attention Passengers." the Pilot said over the overhead intercom. "We apologize that the WiFi is currently down, it sometimes goes down when we fly over land, rest assured our staff are currently working to resolve the issue, we thank you for being patient and hope the rest of your flight is comfortable."

Sherry shrugged slightly and put away her phone, she figured it would be working again in a little while, so she decided to forget about it and drink her tea, enjoying the view out of her window. Underneath the thick clouds she could see nothing but sea, and a large grey-ish shadow off in the distance, she assumed that was the land, but it wasn't Africa.

Hunnigan had to book her a flight that stopped in Paris, France, in order to pick up her partner for the mission - an Adrian Brent. She knew the man to see him, but she wasn't particularly good friends with him. He was always polite and sweet to her, always holding open doors or saying hello to her in the mornings, but she wouldn't of really considered him a particularly good friend, more an acquaintance. Hunnigan was very sweet though, and made sure the flight had WiFi though, but so far she wasn't really experiencing it.

When the Plane touched down to let off passenger's and take on new ones, the staff seemed to suddenly descend into chaos - running around, trying to sort the WiFi problem. The flight had cost an addition 70 dollars in order for the use of WiFi, so she wasn't at all surprised that the staff were on edge trying to sort it in order to keep them from complaining and possibly bringing down the reputation of the flight.

Sherry hadn't noticed but a man had taken the vacant seat beside her where she had kept her laptop bag, the man was now holding it in his lap along with his own. "Man, they're really upset over the whole WiFi thing huh?" Sherry recognized Agent Brent's voice anywhere, it had a distinct Canadian accent that she found positively charming. He had slightly long brown hair and was fairly tall. Claire had always said he was handsome but he was a married man, so Sherry never delved too far into thinking about him, not that she ever really thought about him in that sense.

"How'd you hear about that Adrian? and hey." she smiled warmly at him. "Paris lost power about 2 hours ago, gave my kids a good scare. The power came back on but all communication is down apparently, just assumed the same could be said for the plane, seems i'm right, and hey yourself." he returned her smile and handed her her laptop bag, which she settled between her feet on the ground.

Adrian had been in Paris, in Disneyland with his wife and 3 daughters on a vacation, but it was interrupted when Hunnigan called him late on Monday, and to compensate for taking him away from his family vacation, the DSO paid for his family to stay in the resort for 2 more days and their flights rescheduled, but why go through all that trouble just for one agent? there were available, ready and willing agent's back at the DSO who were ready to be shipped out at a moments notice, why take a man who was on vacation?

"Good guess. I'm sorry about your vacation by the way." Sherry said, attempting to bait him to give her information. He simply nodded and sighed, "Yeah, the girls were pretty upset about me leaving, but duty calls and all that. They need me because i went back-packing with a friend of mine through the remote area where the agent's were taken last year, so if anyone, I'll be the one to notice any changes i suppose." he ended his sentence with a lazy shrug, and sat back in his seat.

Sherry nodded in understanding, now it made sense. "Well that's good, you'll be more familiar with your surroundings then." He nodded, "Yeah, but i hear the guys in charge of this shit storm are crafty, and they cover their tracks pretty well. I'm willing to bet my house that not even a leaf will be out of place when we arrive."

Sherry knew he was most likely correct about that, but was trying to stay positive. "Who knows? maybe we'll happen to stumble upon something everyone's missing, we _are_ the best of the best, right?" Sherry joked, attempting to defuse the tension and nerves they both clearly had, and to her surprise, she actually made Adrian laugh, "Of course, maybe we'll bust these assholes, have them all wrangled up and shut down before tomorrow afternoon." he joked right back, wearing a wide smile, Sherry laughed and smiled right back. "If we do, I'll buy us a steak dinner." Adrian laughed even more and stared at her with wide eyes, "Fantastic, now theirs motivation!" he choked out between laughs.

Once the plane took off, Adrian pulled out his BlackBerry to text his wife to let her know he was leaving and had met up with Sherry, but the WiFi was still down, in fact, it remained unresponsive throughout their whole journey.

When they touched down in Africa though, the airport was in a panic, for not only was the WiFi simply down, the power was completely shut off in the airport. Adrian and Sherry looked at each other with confusion. "Here too?" she practically yelled, she had to over the frantic shouting between staff and the frustrated and annoyed passengers fresh off the plane. Adrian shrugged, "I guess so, seem's a little suspicious though doesn't it?" he yelled back

Sherry stared at the security and how it was blocking every gate so nobody could get through, their was shouting and screaming and Sherry was sure a fight was almost imminent, it was utter chaos. "How so?" she asked. "Well, Paris lost all power for about 40 minutes, the _entirety_ of Paris mind you, and then suddenly Abuja Airport loses power? seem's a little bit convenient doesn't it?"

Sherry shrugged, "It could just be a coincidence Adrian, we shouldn't jump to conclusions." she replied. The pair walked up to one of the Security staff and the 2 pulled out their DSO badges almost perfectly in sync, "Agent Brent, National Security, this is Agent Birkin, we've been dispatched here from the DSO HQ in United States for official National Security business, could you please let us through?"

The man stared at both of their badges and grunted, "Okay, but all cabs and bus' are down, so you won't be getting too far." the man opened the gate and gestured for them to get moving. The 2 were hurried across and the man quickly shut the gate, the loud groans coming from the passengers behind the gate was almost deafening.

The 2 agents walked out and found a van marked with the BSAA symbol. Sherry and Adrian were both told they would be escorted by the BSAA to the outbreak center that was currently undergoing heavy investigation, so they both hopped into the back of the van and were greeted by Chris Redfield. "Hello Agents, we hope your flight went smoothly, as for the whole Electricity situation, apparently the power cables were cut down this morning, but they're currently being taken care of, so we hope it'll be up and running again soon. We should be arriving at Wukari in about 2 hours, but it could vary depending on how crazy it is out there with the power down and such."

The pair nodded in unison and took turns shaking Chris' hand and the other soldiers - There were only 3 other soldiers in the van, that Sherry could see anyway. As they approached Wukari, the scenery went from calming with the occasional person along the dirt road, to absolutely deserted. The approached a small town and Sherry couldn't see a single person. "The hell?" Adrian proclaimed upon seeing the dusty and silent town.

"The people got spooked and left, its a complete ghost town now." A soldier beside Adrian said.

Chris turned to them as they sped away from the empty town and wore a frown. "And what's just about 5 minutes up the road, is the reason they left, this is where you'll be starting your investigation, but I'll just say now, what were about to show you isn't for the faint of heart."

Sherry swallowed a lump in her throat. _Great, what the hell am i going to find out?_

* * *

**Phew, been working on this all week! I wanted to start writing about the actual Mission next chapter - just wait to see what i have planned for Jake kekekeke.**

**Thanks for reading, and as always - If you liked it, review! and have a nice Sunday! /runs back to her homework**


	11. Chapter 11

Sherry's sharp gasp was all Chris needed to hear to alert him that they had arrived.

"Oh my god.." she whispered, clamping her hands over her mouth.

They had reached a small clearing, the ground drenched in blood and bodies, about 7 to be exact. Sherry saw a rather large mutated arm with chipped claws with blood stained all over it, she assumed a BOW had attacked, and spared no one.

When Sherry got out of the van, her legs were slightly shake-y. The smell of gun smoke and blood stung her eyes and made her flinch.

"The area's been seen by Leon's party I've been told, and my group have taken samples of DNA and such, so you two are free to look around. As for the information that's been gathered and concluded, i have no clue, i only arrived in Africa maybe two hours after you." Chris said, staring at the horrifying scene with exhaustion.

Adrian walked over to the huge grotesque arm and started examining it, gently rolling it over to see if there was anything anyone else missed. Adrian had worked with BOW's before and was very good at picking up on minor details and patterns, but Sherry wouldn't have a clue what she'd even be looking for, so she retreated to Chris' side, avoiding looking at the blood drenched scene. "Leon's party were here did you say? we are suppose to meet up with them, do you know where they are?" she asked eagerly.

Chris shrugged and pointed off down a north path. "I wasn't here, but my men said that Leon said that him and his party were heading further up north, to a mountain trail. The BSAA have to start clean up here so we can't take you straight there, but we can bring you about half way? then its just a trek up the mountain, shouldn't be too far up. When the phone lines are back up, well be sure to call Leon and tell him you're on your way. "

Sherry internally scoffed. _Great, mountain hiking, my favorite thing to do. _"Alright, that's the plan then."

Chris nodded and looked over to one of the other soldiers, a slightly chubbier man, maybe a little shorter than Chris, with short black hair. From what Sherry could gather, he was tech support for the group. "Connor, whats the status on the electricity?" Connor walked over and checked his phone, and frowned at whatever he saw. "I asked a friend back at HQ to keep me updated on the overview, a few towns have electricity back, but none that are close, so I'm afraid were stuck in the black out for a bit longer."

Chris sighed and nodded, "Right, keep me posted." the man saluted and went back to whatever he was doing in the clearing.

Adrian was jotting down things about the mutated arm in a small notebook, but Sherry was sure she wouldn't understand it anyway. Her parents had a very scientific background, and its because of that that she never got involved with it, the whole concept bored her. In a way, you could say that Sherry's parents chose brains while Sherry chose brawn.

Sherry walked over to Adrian, quite reluctantly as Adrian was in the middle of the guts and gore, but she had been through worse. "Adrian, i found out where we can meet Leon and his party."

Adrian didn't reply for a moment, analyzing his jotted down notes and the mutated mutant arm, and after a long few moments, he nodded approvingly and stood. "Alright, i have everything i need so we can get going, lead the way maestro."

Chris had to lead the clean up operation, so he wasn't actually able to drive Sherry and Adrian to the foot of the mountain, but he appointed someone to escort them instead. He introduced himself as Ben and seemed friendly enough, so neither had a problem with the arrangement. Sherry and Adrian both bid Chris farewell and wished him good luck with the rest of the mission, he simply smiled and returned the gesture.

When they got in the car, Ben told them that the mountain trail had recently become a hot spot for BOW's, so they should be on the look out. Thankfully, both Adrian and Sherry had their guns and ammo, so it shouldn't be a problem. For about 10 minutes the drive was completely silent. Ben was focused on the road, and Adrian was flipping through the notes he'd jotted down.

It was Adrian that broke the silence. "The are being altered." he said, comparing one page of his notepad with another. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Were you given a report on the BOW's found?" Sherry shook her head, "No, only on the organisation that's distributing them, and that's not saying much, the DSO had very little to write about them."

Adrian nodded, not lifting his stare from his notes. "The arm we saw was from a Hunter." he paused for a minute, making an annoyed face at the 2 pages he had been staring at. "The data from the report the DSO issued to me had information regarding Hunters dating 3 weeks ago, and here - I'm comparing the one's arm we just saw to the report 2 weeks ago."

Sherry nodded, "And?" Adrian sighed then put away the notes, clearly annoyed by them. "This ones arm was more study, the skin was more tough and thick - but its inside's were black, completely deteriorated, meaning they're making them more powerful, but they rot from the inside, and don't last as long."

Sherry dropped her stare to her lap and thought about it for a moment. _So, they're making them more powerful, but they don't last nearly as long, could this be an advantage to us?_ "I wonder how long they last." she whispered. Adrian shrugged, "From what i gathered, the soldiers who attacked it said the thing was clearly in pain and agitated from it when they discovered it."

"So.. because they're in pain, they're angry, its a double edged sword for us." she said aloud. Alone, it would be easy enough to take advantage of the fact that the monster was rotting, but with its agitation, its movements would be more violent and random, so it'd prove to be a challenge to take it out.

"Alright, were here guys." Ben announced. Sherry looked out the window, she could see the road grow more steep and tall trees were beginning to cut off her vision of her surroundings. Ben pulled up to the side of the road and the 2 agents hopped out. "Chris says to call him to let him know that you 2 are okay once the electricity is back up, if he doesn't hear from you by 10:00 PM tonight he's obliged to send out a search party so.." Ben trailed off.

Adrian smirked. "We'll call, don't worry." Ben smiled back and nodded. "Thank you Ben, we'll see you soon." Sherry added. Ben waved and turned his car away from the 2.

Adrian groaned upon seeing that the trail only got steeper and steeper. Sherry giggled at his clear annoyance. "Come on, i thought you liked hiking!" she said.

"Yeah, when i have the proper equipment. I'm in sweats and a hoody, hardly dressed for it." he replied with a sigh. In truth, Sherry wasn't either. She was in a pair of snug grey jeans and a light white shirt, not really proper hiking attire. "That makes two of us then, but we have to catch up to Leon and the rest though, so we're only left with one option."

The two began walking, and Sherry could almost feel the annoyance radiating off of Adrian. Sherry wanted to distract him, and in honesty, herself from the hike, and what better way than with some friendly small talk?

"So." Sherry began timidly. "How was Paris?" she asked, attempting to snap Adrian out of his sour mood. Adrian looked over to her, flashing her a smile. "It was great, me and the girls saw the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumphe and even the Stade de France, though the girls hated it." he winked, which made Sherry laugh.

"We got to Disney land maybe 3 days ago? i rode space mountain too many times that it made my memory fuzzy." he joked. Sherry smiled, "You like roller coasters?" she asked. "Sure, who doesn't?"

Sherry blushed and looked away giggling. "Oh, you i guess." he laughed. "My wife doesn't either, she stuck to the tea cups and gift shops, while me and the girls rode every roller coaster in the park."

"Sounds like me, your wife i mean." she stated, looking further up the mountain trail. The day had gotten away on the two, and it was now around 5:00 PM, the sky was slowly growing darker and darker, they'd have to hurry if they wanted a chance at catching Leon's party.

"Oh? you've been to Disney?" he asked, noticing Sherry had adopted a more brisk walk, and he quickly followed suit. Sherry shook her head, "No, always wanted to though - well, Paris in general, i used to study french and always wanted to visit."

Adrian glanced over to her and smirked, "You know french?" he asked curiously. "_bien sûr!_" Sherry replied, in her best french accent. Adrian shrugged, "I don't know any french myself aside from the extreme basics honestly."

"It means of course." she said with a laugh. "How did you get by in France without knowing French?" Adrian stumbled, and was now watching his feet for any loose rocks along that path that may threaten to make him fall over completely. "The wife is fluent, we visit France every year for 2 weeks."

"Wow, must be really nice to have an annual trip like that." she said with slight jealously, but didn't let it show. "What about you? a husband? a boyfriend? you're too nice to be single."

Sherry blushed, and laughed at his compliment. "Nope, I'm single." she stated, though the minute she said it, Jake popped into her head, and she felt weird about saying she was single, for some reason it felt.. incorrect. "Though there is a guy." she added.

Adrian lifted an eyebrow in curiosity. "Go on." he urged. Sherry shrugged. "I dunno what you'd call us honestly, he's my best friend but.."

"You want to move things to the next level?" he interjected. Sherry blushed even more. "Yeah, but I'm nervous he doesn't feel the same.." Sherry suddenly recalled the drunken night when they'd stumbled into his apartment and he'd admitted feeling for her. Though, to this day, Sherry hadn't known if that was Jake's drunk side talking or the actual truth. She always assumed it was the drunk side.

"Go for it. Me and my wife were partners in the DSO for 2 years, and we were the best of friends throughout those 2 years. I know its scary to jump of the edge and put yourself out there, saying you consider them more than a friend, but trust me - its worth it." he said, with a more serious tone.

Sherry nodded, but was unsure. "But what if he-"

"Doesn't say it back? Sherry, he will. You're funny and sweet, the guys a jack ass if he doesn't return your feelings."

Sherry smiled, maybe Adrian was right, maybe Jake really did feel the same way. "Who's the lucky guy, by the way?" he asked

"Jake Muller." she stated. Adrian's eyes went a little wide. "As in.. Wesker's kid? the guy you had to escort back to the DSO last year under Derek Simmons?" Sherry internally sighed. She hated when people associated Jake with his father, but she didn't want to say anything about it.

"Yeah, that's him." she said.

Adrian slowly nodded. "I hope he's nothing like his father." he mumbled. Sherry shook her head immediately. "Not at all, he's sweet, funny, really smart, not at all cold or condescending like his father." she stated.

"I hope so." he said.

The two eventually reached a ledge on the side of the mountain and decided to stop there for the night. There weren't any signs of Leon or his party, or any activity at all, so they decided it would probably be safe enough to camp out there for the night, though they couldn't be sure of their safety so they decided to take shifts watching the area.

"You should get some sleep, I'm a bit restless right now so i'll take the first watch." Sherry said, which Adrian nodded at and immediately turned in to sleep.

Sherry was only restless because she had decided that she was going to tell Jake how she felt once and for all when she arrived back from the mission. _But how do i tell him.. i don't want to get hurt again, so Jake needs to be sober. Maybe i could invite him over for dinner? but his mother will be visiting soon.. i hope I'm not gone too long, i want to tell him alone.. mayb-_

Sherry suddenly heard activity behind her, a.. whisper? Sherry's heart skipped a beat and she immediately stood, taking out her gun and pointing it towards her left, where a a few large boulders blocked her vision. She glanced to Adrian who was fast asleep, and decided to walk over to the boulders so she wouldn't wake him up.

She peeped around the boulder and immediately stepped behind it, bringing her gun directly in front of her, but she saw nothing. After a few long moments, Sherry sighed. _Probably just a bird or something. _She thought, and walked back to beside Adrian and the fire that was now slowly dying, and lost herself in her thoughts once again.

"She has blonde hair, very short, and from what i gather her name is Sherry, the other ones name is Adrian." a man whispered into an earpiece, a top a ledge just above Sherry and Adrian's makeshift camp site.

"I could care less about the man." a smooth Italian voice came over the mans earpiece. "It's the girl we need to grab. Get her, get out - it is simple, is it not?" he asked, with an annoyed edge to his voice.

The man frowned slightly. "Yes Mr. Lo Verde, i'll get it done."

"I need her unharmed, she is my back-up bargaining chip, and i need this one alive." he stated. "If you fail me this time, do not think of returning, you're lucky i am even allowing you to continue with this job." he sighed.

"That woman is not dead." he said sternly. "But she is _dying _you incompetent imbecile._" _he yelled, so loudly that it hurt the man's ears. The man over the ear piece cleared his throat. "she will be dead in but a few hours thanks to you, not that i really care, we have this.. Sherry girl, she should do all the same."

The man backed away from the ledge and rose to a crouching position. "I think she heard that." he whispered, hiding himself in the dark shadow a boulder behind him created, though he could see Sherry was looking at the wrong side, much to his delight.

Lo Verde sighed heavily. "Just get her, and report back to me when you do." and with that, he hung up.

_Prick._ the man whispered, shoving his ear piece into his pocket.

Sherry yawned, and stared out into the forest, and the ghost town that laid beyond it, completely dark. Not even a single light was lit. It was a gorgeous view, but in an eerie kind of way. It was much too dark for Sherry, and wished for some comforting light amongst the pitch black forest, if only to make Sherry feel less isolated, but it was no use.

Sherry occasionally glanced over her shoulder. Staring out into utter darkness made her more and more paranoid that there was something behind her, but she kept telling herself how crazy she was acting.

Then, all of a sudden, she felt a cold leather glove slap over her mouth.

It happened so fast that Sherry had to time to act, and before she knew it there was a needle in her neck, injecting her with god knows what.

_Push him off, get him off! You're better than this, scream, wake Adrian up!_

He let go of Sherry's mouth suddenly. Sherry inhaled, taking in a breath to scream, but she felt her eyes grow extremely heavy, and once they were closed, it was as if they were glued shut.

_Damn it! what do i do? what do i..._

"I have her... where ar.. we.." the man's voice trailed off into muffled mumbles and Sherry felt her body go limp, and before Sherry could react at all, she slipped into the darkness, and like that, she was completely out.

* * *

**Sorry for the shortish chapter! and no Jake sadly, i wanted to get Sherry's.. segment of this particular part done with so i could focus completely on Jake next, you'll understand why when i upload the next chapter~**

**Thanks for reading, review if you liked it and feel free to share advice!**


	12. Chapter 12

"Tea or coffee sir?" asked a hostess, wheeling a cart down Jake's isle.

Jake simply waved her off and stared at his phone.

Sherry hadn't sent him a single text or called. He kept thinking once he put it away, Sherry would call, but his phone stayed silent. _What the hell Sherry? i can't get a signal on you if you don't fucking text or call me._

Jake sat back in his chair, staring out the window. A short sound of static came over an intercom and listed off the few safety regulations and at the end said something about WiFi, not that Jake really cared.

Jill had called Jake just before he got on his flight to let him know he was off the hook for about 3 weeks, but would need to be back by the end of it. She apparently told Hunnigan that Jake's mother had a medical emergency and he needed to go to Edonia to see her. Though that just reminded Jake of his mother, and that he'd called her the day before and she hadn't picked up and hadn't called him back yet. _Is everyone fucking avoiding me or what?_

Jake was now worried though. His plan of action was to track Sherry, but the only way to do that was to track her phone through calls and texts, and Jake had called her twice and sent about 3 texts, and had gotten no replies, so what was plan b?

_Maybe find Leon.. but how? Jesus.. why didn't i plan for this? well.. i never really plan for anything._

Jake tilted his head back and shut his eyes, the flight was going to be long and he needed to be well rested once he arrived, who knows when the next chance to sleep safely may arise. Though he really needed to have something to go on once he arrived, someone, _anyone, _he could turn to for a lead.

Claire had said the BSAA would be pretty much everywhere, and that they were suppose to be at the outbreak center that's location was lined out on a map in the brief he stole from Sherry's apartment once she left. _That's something._

But the chance that Jake may run into Chris Redfield during all this made his head ache horribly. Turning to the Jarhead wasn't even a last resort for him, Jake probably wouldn't even ask for his help if it were a life or death situation for him, so Chris was officially ruled out. If anything, he'd be used for information. Jake wouldn't take any hand outs, no, not from the man that took away his chance of revenge for his mother and his years of hardships.

Jake had officially passed the point of patience, and turned on his phone to call Leon - he was leading the party Sherry was going to be in, and he'd have to have his phone to keep in contact with Hunnigan, so if Jake couldn't track Sherry directly, he'd have to do it through Leon.

Jake scrolled through his address book and tapped Leon's name twice, and the Call screen appeared. For a long few moments, he heard nothing - no dial tone or anything. He took the phone away from his ear to see his screen, an alert box had popped up to say 'No signal'

"Oh fantastic." Jake said aloud, gaining him a few sideways looks from passengers around him, but he didn't really care.

"Can i help you sir?" asked a confused sounding air hostess. "No, I'm good." Jake muttered, angrily shoving his phone into his pocket and staring out the window.

After a while, the plane finally took off, and soon after, Jake fell asleep. He actually had a pleasant dream about him and his mother, a memory from when he was 6 and they had gone to the park together.

"We will be descending in 10 minutes, please fasten your seat belts." sounded a nearby intercom, which jolted Jake awake. _Shit, i guess i was more tired than i thought._

Jake quickly gathered his thoughts and picked up his small backpack, and quickly checked his pockets for his wallet and phone, which were both accounted for.

As the plane descended, he checked his phone. No missed calls, no texts, _nothing._

_The minute i get off this plane i need to call Leon and set up something._

Jake waited until the main crowd had gotten off and then stood from his seat. He handed over his passport to an air hostess who smiled and returned it. "Welcome to Africa Mr. Muller." Jake lazily nodded, "Happy to be here." he said, unintentionally sarcastically.

When he walked into the terminal though, there were crowds upon crowds of people, leaning against walls, sitting on the ground, on top of their luggage and some even bickering with Security personnel.

Jake walked over to a security guard and pulled out his DSO badge. _Time to test this thing out._

Jake flipped his badge open and showed it to the guard, who took it from him and eyed him curiously. "Yeah hi, I'm with national security, can you go ahead and open the gate." Jake said in a slightly more hostile way than was meant. The guard grunted and held his badge for a few minutes before handing it back. "Jesus, _another_ agent. Should i expect anymore?"

"Another?" Jake asked, "What do you mean?" The main sighed. "2 other agents were here earlier."

Jake felt a bit stupid for thinking it might be Sherry, but decided to ask anyway. "What did they look like?"

The man shrugged. "A blonde, short haired girl and a guy with brown hair, fairly tall." _Shit, it was Sherry._

"Any idea where they were headed?" Jake asked eagerly. The man pointed towards the exit. "BSAA picked the two up and they headed west, towards Namu i think."

"Namu, got it." Jake said, typing it into his phone. The man opened the gate and ushered Jake out, who's eyes were glued to his phone.

Jake reached the airport exit and decided it'd be as good a time as any to call Leon, so he tried once again to reach him. Each time the dial tone rang out, it just further annoyed him, until finally he heard a reply at the other end. "Agent Kennedy here."

"Leon, its Jake, is Sherry with you?" Jake asked eagerly, cutting right to the chase. "Wha.. Jake? I.. obviously not, you know i'm in Africa right?"

"Uh, duh. Sherry's suppose to be with your party isn't she?" Jake asked, now confused, though Leon sounded just as confused.

"What? of course not, what the hell are you talking about?" Leon said. Jake was incredibly confused, Sherry said she was being shipped out to meet up with Leon, why was he playing dumb?

"Sherry! she got brought out here to help your party! Hunnigan shipped her out yesterday!" Jake yelled.

"Jake, i didn't hear anything like that from Hunnigan, Sherry's not with me, i didn't even know she was out here."

"So then.. where the hell is she?" he whispered, now feeling very defeated. Leon immediately replied, "Wait, does Chris know she's missing?"

"Who gives a fuck about Chris." he hissed. On the other end, Leon rolled his eyes. "I take that as a no, I'll call him now, where are you?"

"Outside Abuja airport." he said, looking around himself. "Okay, stay there." said Leon

"Alright." and with that the two hung up. At least Leon was coming to get him, and they could find Sherry together. Jake no longer cared if Sherry was going to get mad when she saw him, Jake needed to be by her side protecting her, so if she got mad and fought with him, he'd rather that than her getting hurt.

After around 30 minutes of waiting around, Jake heard the sound of a van approaching. Jake scoffed when he saw the BSAA logo on it, walked up to it and hopped in the passenger side. "Christ Leon, you tellin' me that the DSO can't get their own va-"

"I'm sure they can." said Chris. Jake nearly jumped straight out the van upon hearing his voice. He could barely stand the asshole. "Oh great." groaned Jake.

Chris waited for a long moment, analyzing a map in front of him before speaking, "Done having your cute little tantrum then? I have some information on Sherry."

Jake scoffed. "Lay it on me."

Chris cleared his throat, "Sherry and Adrian are in a mountain range near here, I'll take you there, they shouldn't be too far from the area. They were meant to call last night but the phone lines and everything's been down here and there, things are only getting back to normal in the past 20 minutes or so, so I'm sure we'll get a call from her soon."

Jake nodded and turned to stare out of the window. Chris sighed and started driving. "Not one for conversation?" Chris asked

Jake simply shrugged. "Not with everyone."

"You said my name wrong." Chris countered. Jake didn't reply, and the entire drive to the mountain range was silent.

As soon as they arrived, Jake practically jumped out of the moving van. "Alright, its been fun, later." said Jake.

"Sorry Jake, I'm afraid i'm coming with." said Chris, killing the vans engine and hopping out himself.

"Hell fucking no." Jake hissed.

"Jesus christ Jake, get the fuck over it, i'm coming." replied Chris.

"Seriously Redfield,_ fuck off_, I can get to Sherry myself just fucking fine and dandy, now go back to playing follow the leader with your rag-tag band of mindless self righteous pricks." he spat.

Chris threw up his arms. "You know what Jake? i don't _have_ to help yo-"

"Then fuck off! who asked you to?"

"Nobody had to! I'm just as much a friend to Sherry as you are, believe it or not!" countered Chris, beginning to lose his cool.

"Sherry's _mine_, shes _mine_ to look after, so leave her the fuck alone!" he yelled, closing the space between him and Chris, they were about the same size so it made for an intense stare off.

"Fine, go get yourself killed because you're too much of a brat to realize you're not invincible, see if i care."

"Fantastic, safe trip back!" Jake yelled, turning his body and jogging up the path, out of Chris' sight.

_I can't just let him go himself, that trail's fucking suicide without someone to watch your back for monsters or bandits._ Chris sighed, and waited for Jake to disappear from his sight, then adopted a brisk walk to keep behind him at all times, occasionally ducking behind bushes or boulders in order to hide from Jake, who thankfully, never saw him.

* * *

Jake eventually came to a clearing that had a blackened out spot where a fire that was now long dead must of been, and caught sight of a blanket, but the site was silent - not a person to be seen. _Weird. _

Jake walked around the site for a minute, but found nothing passed the blanket. He picked it up and looked at it curiously, it smelled like after-shave._ So Sherry wasn't here then, just some guy. Probably a weird homeless guy or something in the mountains._

Not really all that interested to search the site anymore now that he knew Sherry hadn't been there, he decided to get back to searching elsewhere. He lazily tossed the blanket down and strolled towards a path leading further up the trail.

"H-hey! help!" called a man from behind a large boulder Jake hadn't cared to look behind. Jake quickly jogged over to see 2 men and Sherry, all badly bludgeoned, and Sherry and the other man were out cold.

"Woah, what the hell?" Jake hissed to the conscious man, instantly falling to Sherry's side, examining her face and checking her pulse - which was steady, thank god. _So.. wheres all this blood from? _"How did this happen?" Jake asked frantically, gently scooping Sherry into his arms.

"This is Adrian, i presume you know her from how you're so worried about her, and I'm Nazaire. I was helping these 2 agents when we got attacked by a monster! It got away, but not before it did a number on us.. " Nazaire said panicked. Jake nodded. _Well, Sherry did say she had a partner, maybe this guy was just helping them out too._

"The African DSO department is about 40 minutes south of this trail, help me get these guys there and we can get medical attention, please - we need your help!" the man pleaded. Jake nodded, completely focused on Sherry. "Yeah, fine. I can carry Sherry, can you carry that.. Adrian guy?"

The man wearily nodded and slowly picked Adrian up. Jake waited for a moment, and they then began walking down the trail. "My phone got badly damaged fighting the monster, so i can't call for a car.. " the main sighed. Jake simply reached in his pocket and unlocked his phone. "You can borrow this i guess."

The man smiled and happily took his phone, typed out the phone number and hit send. After a few minutes, the other line seemed to respond. "I've got everyone, pick us up at the foot of the great mile trail." he said, and after a few moments listening to the other line, he hung up and handed it back to Jake.

"What kind of monster was it?" asked Jake, noticing that Sherry had a ton of blood on her but no wounds. _Maybe its the monsters blood? Maybe she healed after being cut? _

"A hunter, and a big one at that." Nazaire groaned. Jake stroked Sherry's cheek and kept his eyes forward.

Meanwhile, from way behind them, little did they know that Chris Redfield had heard everything, but decided not to show himself, and simply follow them if they left. The guy seemed suspicious to Chris and leaving Jake go off with him wouldn't sit right with him. Chris ducked behind a large rock and began to listen in on their conversation more closely.

Once they reached the end of the trail, they spotted a small white van, and proceeded to get in at the back. Nazaire instantly set Adrian on the floor while Jake kept a tight hold of Sherry in his lap. Once they got going, Jake just held on to her all the more tighter, watching her for any type of movement, but none came.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine - shes the agent with the benefits of G right?" the man asked

Jake simply nodded. "Yeah, that's her."

"Shes really something out on the field, really gave that Hunter a hard time." he said laughing. Jake smiled down to Sherry, "Of course she did." and with that, the van took off.

"I didn't see any Hunters up the trail, by the way." Jake stated nonchalantly. Nazaire tensed slightly. "Dunno what to tell you, we only saw the one." Jake took on a face of confusion. "Really? Hunters often travel together."

Nazaire shrugged, and Jake noticed how he avoided his stare. "These Hunters are different - who ever's producing them, they're badly mutated, maybe there habits are different now?"

Jake shrugged back. "I guess." after a few moments of staring at Sherry's now pale face, he grew restless. "What happened to her?"

"Hunter came up behind us and hit Sherry pretty hard, before she went down she shot it a few times, doing some serious damage, but she went down soon after, girl doesn't give up easily is all i can say." he said with a laugh.

"Right." Jake mumbled.

After a little while, the van came to an abrupt stop, and Jake eyed the doors curiously until a man threw open the doors. "Come on, lets get them inside." he said. Both Jake and Nazaire stood, Jake held Sherry tight, while Nazaire lazily slung Adrian's arms around his neck and carried his legs.

Jake gasped upon getting out of the van - The African DSO was _huge_, and to Jake's surprise, it was quite run down. There were a few people out and about, but no more than 15. The big glass double doors opened up to a large foyer with about 4 employee's and a red headed secretary, though Jake and Nazaire simple walked by her.

They walked down a large corridor and into an elevator. Nazaire hit a button which read B10 and the elevator instantly descended, making Jake's stomach turn slightly.

"Why the hell is the medical bay underground?" Jake growled. "There are 3 medical bays, but the one were going to is the only one that can cater for Sherry's.. body type." Jake nodded in understanding. _Makes sense._ Jake once again examined Sherry, but she was still in his arms._ Come on Supergirl, wake up for me._

The elevator gave a soft chimed, signalling that they'd arrived.

As the doors parted, Jake noticed about 7 men waiting for them, and barely had time to think before one took Sherry from his arms and another pinned him against the back wall of the elevator with his arm

"Hey, what the fuck! Sherry! Naza-" but when Jake looked over, the man was handing over Adrian to another man, and gently patting his suit for dust, looking rather annoyed.

"Thank you for co-operating Jake, it would of been a pain to carry those 2 all the way down the mountain myself." he stated nonchalantly, meeting his accusatory glare with a rather bored stare.

"What?" Jake asked, caught for a reply.

The man simply rolled his eyes. "I thought you were Wesker's bastard? who knew you inherited none of his intelligence and brilliance. I suppose i'll have to spell it out for you then - I was asked to inject Sherry with the I-BETA virus last night, which instantly puts any subjects into an unconscious state, and just in case Adrian decided to wake up, i beat him to the bunch and bashed his head with a rock."

_How the fuck does he know Wesker's my dad? I-BETA?_ "What the fuck is I-BETA? what did you do to Sherry!" he yelled, now struggling wildly against the bodyguards arm, but it didn't help.

Nazaire shook his head. "Tut tut Wesker Jr. you only care for Sherry and not Adrian? that's not very nice,"

"Like i give a fuck! What the hell is I-BETA? Whats it going to do to her!" Jake practically screamed out of frustration.

Nazaire took on a dark smile and clapped his hands. "How about we strike a deal Mr. Muller?"

Jake momentarily stopped his wild thrashing and glared at Nazaire. "I suppose you've got my attention."

"Allow us to run tests dear Sherry for an hour or so, and we will allow the two of you a shared cell." he said with the slightest hint of amusement.

"And if i tell you to eat shit and die right now?" Jake hissed. Nazaire simply shook his head and frowned at Jake. "Language Mr. Muller, and if that was your response to my wonderfully kind offer, we will simply take Sherry, do what we please, and kill you."

"I'd like to see you fucking try!" Jake yelled, and to his surprise, landed a hard kick into the mans chest and was let go. Jake fell to the ground gasping for air and instantly scrambled to a standing position, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Nazaire was holding a gun to Sherry's head. "My kind offer is now off the table due to your brutish behavior - shame on you. My new offer is you co-operate, allow us to test Sherry, and you may have the Cell opposite hers."

Jake bit his lips, and glared at him. He bit back the urge to scream in frustration and take a chance by running up to him and breaking his arm. "Fine." Jake mumbled, and as soon as he said it, a man grabbed him and towed him to a nearby Cell.

He was thrown into a small cell on the right of a long hall that was damp, had a bed and sink, and an iron bar door and window. Jake grunted and was surprised when he was thrown into it, landing hard on the ground. "Fuck." he hissed, slowly sitting up, and snapped his head back when he heard the iron door click with the lock.

"Be good now Wesker Jr., i ordered that lovely new iron just for you - and don't worry, we'll have her returned to you soon enough." said Nazaire, jingling the keys to the door in front of Jake, though Jake wasn't looking at him - he was staring at Sherry who remained unconscious in a body guards arms.

"I swear to god, if shes hurt in _any_ way when yo-" Nazaire faked a yawn, and checked his watch on his wrist. "I don't believe you're in a position to attempt to compromise with me." he said before walking off and signalling all of the body guards to follow him. "Bring Sherry to the medical floor and have blood tests carried out immediately, well move onto the endurance tests once shes awake." he listed off, sounding quite bored about it all.

Jake gripped the bars tightly and gritted his teeth. _So, how the fuck do i get out of here? _Jake nervously asked himself, sitting on the floor in front of the bars, and began devising a plan in his head.

Jake sure as hell wasn't going to allow them to keep Sherry and run tests on her - she had told him of her trauma in Raccoon and her fear of hospitals, so Jake wasn't about to let her wake up in one, not if he could help it.

_Just hang on Supergirl, I'll think of something._

* * *

**Hehehe, i needed a break from studying so i've been working on this for a while on and off, hope its alright! You'll never guess who we meet next chapter kekeke**

**Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

Sherry attempted to peel her eyes open every few minutes, but the harsh white light that greeted her with every attempt made it difficult.

Her body felt foreign, like she had no control over it, and yet she had control over her head. _Why can't i.. move anything?_

Finally, her overwhelming curiosity took over, and she forced her eyes open with one swift motion. She hissed at the harsh pain but kept her eyes open, hoping the white light would dissolve into a more bearable sight, and eventually it did.

The white melted away and revealed a small room - a hospital of room of some sort, with one huge mirror (but Sherry knew all too well from her days in government custody that it was a window) dead in front of her, a door to the right of it. Sherry's heart beat picked up in speed when she examined herself - she had her chest tied town with ropes, her hands separately tied to either side of the bed and her legs tied down to the end of the bed together.

She groaned upon realizing that her guns and phone had been taken. _Figures. _At least they hadn't stuck her in a skimpy hospital gown, and left her in her own clothes.

Struggling was useless, Sherry knew as much, so she lied there completely still for a few minutes, gathering her thoughts. _Where the hell am i? I.. i was with Adrian on the mountain trail- Adrian! _Sherry frantically looked left and right, but she was the only one in the room. She hoped Adrian was safe, but had a sinking feeling that he badly hurt, or worse.

_I-i was on the mountain trail.. when a guy.. the guy knocked me out! but he did something first.. something in my neck? he injected me with something.. god but with what!_ Sherry was starting to get panicked. She knew the G-Virus would most likely over write any virus in her system as it had done many times before, but why was she so convinced that this time was different? She didn't feel different in anyway, she could see, hear, smell, touch, and yet.. she had a sinking feeling she was missing something right in front of her.

_Its just nerves! it didn't affect you, it never affects you, nothings different!_ She repeated over and over in her head, attempting to slow down her now fast breathing and calm herself, but she was in a trance that put her in a panicked state and kept her there, no matter what she did.

That was, until she heard the door from her right click, and open. Sherry instantly stopped her loud, fast breathing and looked up.

"Ah, Miss Birkin, you're awake! good." Said a tall figure, slowly shutting the door behind him. He had a thick Italian accent and was - by any standard - quite handsome. He had slightly long ruffled black hair and wore a nice - probably Italian - suit, with no tie, and the top 2 buttons messily unbuttoned. He wore a friendly smile but Sherry knew all too well it was a devious smile, full of greed.

The way he looked at her was like a man looking at new livestock for sale, and it brought back horrible memories of being watched from an operating room by more scientists than she could count. She shuddered at the horrible memory and finally worked up the courage to speak.

"W.. where am i?" she croaked. She hadn't spoken a word since she woke up and only now realized how strangely sore her throat was.

"In Africa." he deadpanned, pulling a chair over to Sherry's bed and settling into it.

"I'm aware of that - where am i right now?" she asked with a slight edge in her tone, and tugged on the ropes around her hands impatiently.

"You're in my facility right now, but we plan to move you." he said, taking out a blackberry and diverting all attention to the screen. If there was one thing that annoyed Sherry to no end, it was when she was having a conversation with someone and they pulled out a phone; not only was it rude, it was incredibly obnoxious.

"What the hell are you moving me for? what did you do to me?" she hissed, glaring at him, though he never looked up to meet it.

"Perhaps i should start from the beginning?" he said, shoving his phone back into his pocket and shifting in his seat. Sherry nodded slightly and he continued. "My name is Alrigo Lo Verde, I worked with Umbrella for a year as an apprentice with your father, where he allowed me to view progress on the G-Virus before it all fell apart. I then moved to TriCell for about 2 years - though my position was taken by the _great_ Albert Wesker." he said, sounding quite sarcastic about the last part._ Jealousy perhaps? _

"You sound quite sore over it." said Sherry, sounding bored. Alrigo acted as if he hadn't even heard her, and continued.

"I had a relationship with the late Excella Gionne during my time there, but she chose to sheepishly follow the god himself." he shook his head once he finished. "I can't say i didn't see it coming."

Sherry felt a twinge of sympathy for him, and for Excella. Both Jill and Chris had once told Sherry of the events in Africa, and from what they told her - Excella was used because of her position as a CEO in the company, and whether she deserved what came to her was never clear from there way of telling it - though if she was used by Wesker's hand, Sherry guessed she didn't.

"Before the two plunged the company into an unrecoverable nose-dive into the ground, i managed to steal samples here and there of what Wesker occasionally brought into the labs for 'testing' - with these samples, i was able to develop my own virus, though its still in its beta stages."

Sherry softened her glare and darted her gaze from the door to him, hoping someone would walk in and stop what she thought he was about to lead into.

"And let me guess.. the virus is unstable, and the G-Virus can fix that." she mumbled.

Alrigo happily clapped his hands together. "My, you do take after your father! he was brilliant you know, a real visionary."

Sherry clenched her fists. _Shit.. What the hell do i do now?_

"You seem calm enough now, are you ready to stand up and come take a few tests with us?"

Sherry contemplated her options. Alrigo towered over her, and looked pretty strong, so taking him on in a physical fight would be no use. Alternatively, Sherry was pretty fast, and any bullets that caught her were sure to just heal after a few minutes - so really, it was her only option; Dashing for the nearest exit. _Take the opportunity when it presents itself Sherry._

"Oh, and i recommend you don't try anything funny. As well as that agent that was with you, we have also detained a Jake Muller."

Sherry held her breath, and went pale. _They have Adrian? They have Jake? _"How? how the hell do you have Jake?" she gasped

"Plenty of time to explain later my dear, but right now we need you to take a few tests for us. If you're a good girl and follow my orders, i'll allow you to see both the agents." he said, with a rather impatient tap of his foot.

"O.. okay." she said finally. What else was there to say? if she ran and actually got out, they'd probably kill Adrian and Jake right off the bat, so she'd just have to tough it out, and take any opportunities to escape with the 2 when it presented itself.

"You're quite obedient Miss Birkin, you may prove to be a much better chip than the original." he said with a sickly grin. He clicked his fingers to signal two guards into the room, and the slowly undid Sherry's ropes.

Sherry exhaled when the ropes around her chest were loosened and finally removed. She sat up and stretched for about 5 minutes before hopping off the bed, standing beside Alrigo. She couldn't help but notice how he was nearly the same height as Jake.

"Lets get this over with." Sherry mumbled.

* * *

"Chris! what the hell is going on?!" shouted Leon from across the makeshift DSO center, set up in the abandoned ghost town in what appeared to be a hotel.

Chris was just walking inside when Leon rushed over, looking both frustrated and exhausted.

"Leon, Hunnigan told me Adrian and Sherry were joining you and your party, why the hell didn't you wait for them?" Chris barked angrily

"Hunnigan didn't tell me anything about them! i had no idea they were even here - last i heard Adrian was on a paid vacation!" Leon barked right back.

"How the hell did Hunnigan not call you? you're fucking required to check in every day with her! 2 agents joining in your party is something worth mentioning!"

Leon was about to reply when he realized what Chris had just said. "Come to think of it, Hunnigan hasn't called for about 3 days.. "

"Well fucking call her Leon, and let her know we've got 2 agent's missing, and Jake to boot!"

"What? Now Jake's gone?" Leon asked, dumbfounded by what he said. Chris ran both his hands through his hair and he groaned.

"Up on the mountain trail, some guy towed Jake away, Sherry and Adrian were unconscious. The guy sounded pretty spooked, but i could smell a rat the entire time. He said they were going to the DSO but there isn't a wing in Africa."

"What the hell.. " Leon mumbled, shaking his head at every word. "This is just incredible, how did we manage to lose the fucking three of them?"

"Just.. one thing after the other, and we lost them." Chris said, now with a pounding headache that made him wince with each thump. Both him and Leon walked over to a small table with coffee and both grabbed a cup. Leon angrily fiddled with his phone but it seemed whatever he was attempting wasn't working.

"Fucking signal has been down all day!" Leon yelled, shoving his phone back into his pocket and pinching the bridge of his nose in anger. Chris nodded slowly. "Hunnigan obviously hasn't been able to reach you, any of the other agents make contact?"

"No, not a single call." he said, sipping on his coffee.

"Leon, that guy who took Jake, Adrian and Sherry, we need to find him - or them - before something bad happens." Chris said softly, attempting to keep as calm as possible for the already fuming Leon.

"Implying something bad hasn't already happened. What if someones badly hurt? or killed? What if they know about Sherry, and G? What if they know about Jake? Jesus Chris, they have an array of reasons for wanting them.. These guys are smart, we haven't even been able to find them, how the hell do we even start looking?"

Chris shook his head, thinking for a moment. "Doesn't Jake have one of those badges for trainees? you know, the ones they give to the agents they're not sure if they can be trust with the real thing?" he asked.

Leon shrugged. "Yeah i think s- Chris, you're a fucking genius!" Leon said, punching him on the arm and running off to the other side of the hotel. Chris had to take up a jog just to keep up with him

"Leon, what the hell?!" he asked, following him into a small room with nothing but cables and about 3 monitors. "Anita, any word from the DSO?"

A young girl with long brown hair turned to see the 2 men standing in the door way, and shook her head. "Hello Agent Kennedy, I was on the phone with Hunnigan about 2 hours ago, she tells me there systems were hacked about 2 days ago and they've been working to resolve the issue - she said she will contact me as soon as everything is back up and running, i will keep you updated." she said sweetly

Leon shook his head and walked over to her. "Okay that's good, but i need you to get up a signal on all the trainees trackers in there badges."

Anita looked at him curiously. "Sir.. all of our agents are accounted for, who are you looking for?"

"Trust me Anita, just get up the GPS." he said, focusing on the monitor that was dead in front of her. She typed in a few codes and analyzed the screen for a few moments before a map popped up, with a cluster of green dots appearing in the hotel.

"Come on.. " Leon mumbled, staring at the screen. "Sir i-"

The screen popped up an alert message and zoomed out from the hotel, and showed a single dot way over past the mountain range.

"Holy shit.. its Jake! It has to be Jake!" Chris shouted.

Leon threw his arms in the air and smiled, laughing. "Thank god! Chris, grab a van, we need to get going!" he shouted, unable to contain his happiness and relief.

Chris ran out and Leon heard him shout for a van to be brought around. "Anita, keep me updated with the DSO, We'll be right here." he said, pointing to the dot on the map. "I'll call you at 9 PM tonight, if i don't pick up, send back up _immediately_." he stressed the last word, and ran out of the office to meet up with Chris.

"So Cowboy, whats the plan?" Chris asked, starting up the van. Leon laughing, "Make it up as we go along, planning takes the fun out of it."

"The fun." he echoed with a laugh. Leon took out his phone and rechecked the co-ordinates. "Okay, past the mountain trail, up the road for 20 minutes, its a sharp left up near the cross, and we should be there.

Chris nodded and they pulled out from the hotel, and sped away towards the mountain trail.

* * *

"You fuckers gonna let me out yet?" Jake yelled down the long and seemingly endless halls. He had 2 guards watching him, who walked up and down the halls, never acknowledging him when they did pass his cell. Jake wasn't all that surprised when he heard no reply from either.

After a while of staring at the wall directly opposite him in his cell, Jake looked out into the other cells. As well as noticing he was alone in regards to prisoners being held - from what empty cells he could see anyway - he also noticed how all the cells were identical, save for his own.

Jake's Cell had thicker iron bars, and recalled Nazaire's comment about them being new just for him.

_Wait.. what? how the hell did that guy know i was gonna be here? I've only been in Africa for 2 days, and just how the hell does he know Wesker's my father? well.. maybe that cats been out of the bag for a while, but-_

"Day dreaming, Mister Wesker?" asked a smug sounding Nazaire from just outside his cell. Jake tried not to let it show that Nazaire had given him quite a fright - Jake's mercenary training taught him to be vigilant and be able to better sense the presence of an enemy, and yet Nazaire went completely undetected by his heightened senses - like a shadow.

Jake looked up to see him leaning against the iron bars against the opposite cell with 2 body guards standing either side of him, both looking as emotionless as possible, while Nazaire took on a smug smile of triumph, which annoyed Jake to no end.

"Wheres Sherry." he growled, standing up and gripping the bars so tight that it made his knuckles turn white.

Nazaire's smug smile remained on his face, "Who now?"

Jake knew he was only trying to get him mad, but he hated when people played dumb with him, and it just infuriated him when it came to Sherry. "Sherry Birkin you asshole! the girl that ass took from me 2 fucking hours ago!" Jake yelled, motioning to the body guard on the left of Nazaire.

Nazaire shrugged. "The cute blonde my boss has taken a particular.. _interest_ in?" he purred.

"He what?" Jake mumbled. He felt his heart rate speed up and suddenly felt the urge to punch the iron bars until they gave way, giving him an escape, and a way to punch Nazaire directly in the face.

"Yes?" Nazaire said, pressing a small ear piece against his ear, listening to the other end. After a few moments, Nazaire's smirk grew wider. "Ah, the players are set then! lets get this show on the road." he happily beamed, and looked back up to meet Jake's now hard glare.

"Mister Muller, i believe we have an old friend for you waiting in the conference room!" he yelled, clapping his hands in front of him, and motioning the guards to open Jake's cell.

"Sherry?" he asked, grunting in anger as the 2 shoved Jake out of the cell and into the corridor.

"No, the play has not reached that act quite yet."

_Quite the theatrical type._ "Then who the fuck wants to meet me?"

"Why, none other than the great Alrigo Lo Verde!" he said, patting Jake on the shoulder - which nearly drove Jake to take a chance and punch him straight in the face, but decided against it when he heard the click of the bodyguards guns on his back.

"The old guy remembers me then." he said as nonchalantly as possible.

"Oh, trust me Mister Wesker, once he learned of your.. family tree, he's been dying to meet you."

Jake shrugged and walked a bit more briskly in order to stay a few inches in front of Nazaire, and attempted to shut him out until he continued

"That, and he's still.. shall we say sore about what happened during your last encounter."

Jake looked at Nazaire curiously. "What? what the fuck does that mean?" he practically yelled, which earned a swift jab in the head by one of the bodyguards guns.

"I was told to get you from your Cell to Mister Lo Verde, not explain your betrayal to him. I'm sure you and him will have plenty to discuss!" he stated, pushing the elevator button as they reached the end of the hall.

Jake thought for a moment. _I never 'betrayed' that fucker; i did the job, i got the money, i left. What the fuck is this guy even saying? he's got it all wrong._

Jake was shoved in by the body guards and Nazaire followed, pressing the button once inside which closed the doors. To Nazaire's surprise, Jake never replied, and remained relatively silent for the few moments they were waiting in the elevator.

"Oh and.. so sorry for what Alrigo may tell you about my recent actions." Nazaire said, keeping his eyes glued to the elevator doors. "It wasn't personal, simply business."

Jake eyed him curiously, "If i find out you hurt Sherry, i will personally escort you to hell myself."

Nazaire smirked. "Don't worry, Sherry's not the one i hurt."

* * *

**Sorry this took so long to get out - been trying to sort a summer job among other things! Phew, things are going to get a bit crazy for the next few chapters, since now we're just about to get into Alrigo's plan and motives, and a bit of a plot twist! all to look forward to next chapter kekekeke**

**Hope you liked this chapter! thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

To say Sherry was unfit was a lie. So why did that feel like the truth right now?

The soldiers in the facility had pushed Sherry to her limits with running, jumping, hand-to-hand and an assortment of other activities that Sherry knew well from her days of training to be a field agent.

So why was it so strenuous now? the activities were not only similar to her training days - they _were_ what she had to do in her training. Naturally, Sherry had figured she'd breeze through it all with ease, since she was very fit and strong (despite not really looking it) and yet, she was gasping for breath and dripping with sweat after some hand-to-hand, hurdles and a measly couple laps around a gym.

"Give up?" asked Nazaire, a man Sherry had only known for the 20 minutes she'd been in the gym - and yet, she despised him with every fiber of her being.

"You wish." she choked out between gasps. Standing upright and wiping away a layer of sweat from her forehead, she gave Nazaire a sharp nod and took off running again, though it became a soft jog after a mere 5 minutes. This time, Sherry fell to her knees, gasping for air.

"Dear Sherry, its rather cute how you push yourself so hard to achieve something you clearly can't." Nazaire said, sounding rather amused with Sherry.

"I can do this!" she shouted, but paid for it after as it took a lot of breath out of her.

For what seemed like forever, there was a tense silence. All that could be heard was Sherry's haggard gasps. Sherry looked up to see a smug smile plastered on Nazaire's face, and honestly, she had never wanted to punch someone in the face more than right at that moment.

Just then, to break the tension, a soldier or body guard - some kind of security personnel - Walked over to Nazaire and handed him some sort of file. Sherry had to try really hard to smother the urge to continue to gasp as loudly as she was but needed to in order to catch _some_ of the conversation between the two - and eventually, she did.

"-nd the results for here are only about 72.8% accurate since they had to rush it, but based on today, they say they can pretty much guarantee it worked." said the man, flicking pages and pointing to something in the folder. Nazaire smiled like a child on Christmas morning at the folder though, and was very creepy to Sherry.

"And we have the blood sample from before?" Nazaire asked with that same obnoxiously smug smile plastered on his face that made Sherry so aggravated.

"Of course sir, samples from before and after, the virus was a complete success." said the soldier with a triumphant smile, even though Sherry was pretty sure he was a mere messenger and had actually nothing to do with whatever Nazaire was happy about.

_Well, its obviously about you Sherry. The virus is obviously making me so tired.. but how? is it slowly shutting down my body or something? shit.. are they going to kill me?_

"Dear Sherry, that will be all for today." Mumbled Nazaire. "Zachary, please escort her to the cell across from Jake Muller's as agreed, thank you for co-operating." and with the lazy wave of his hand, Sherry was being pulled away, off the grounds of the gym and towards the double doors that lead to - presumably - the cells.

Sherry had no time to reply to Nazaire - even if she did, she would of had no idea what to say to him, and if she did, well.. she was sure he wouldn't of ever heard her.

Sherry was too tired to be alert of her surroundings and attempt to look for any openings to escape - not that she could with Jake still in captivity - so she decided to ask the man about what the files had said about her.

"Don't worry Miss Birkin, Alrigo will let you know soon enough."

The rest of the walk was pretty silent - Wither that was Sherry throwing Zachery a bone or her nerves slowly getting to her about the virus in her system 'working', she wasn't quite sure.

She knew one thing for sure though, and that was that whatever was in her system was doing much more than simply making her unfit, and she was terrified to find out just _what_ it was.

Sherry sat on the cold concrete floor and let her forehead rest against the rusting bars. She stared into the empty cell across from hers, wishing Jake would return soon, because right now, Jake was the only comfort in the world to her.

Jake was probably the only person in the world right now that could make her feel safe, even in the midst of this mission gone badly wrong. If she didn't hear his voice soon, she was sure she'd die from the feeling of utter loneliness. The only thing that kept her from sobbing into her hands was the memory of the night Jake had slept with Sherry on her couch, holding her, making her feel_ safe. _

_We'll get out of this, i'll make sure we get out of this._ she promised before allowing herself to doze off against the bars.

* * *

After a long elevator ride and a long walk down a suspiciously quiet hallway, Jake was shoved into what looked like a conference room. It was quite spacious, with a large conference table taking up most of the room, a desk off in the corner and - from what Jake could see - 2 bodies guards.

And of course, Alrigo Lo Verde.

The man sat slouched in the chair with one hand under the table, and the other drumming his fingers on the surface. He smirked upon seeing Jake stumble into the room, narrowly avoiding falling over because of a soldier's impatient shoving.

"Jesus fucking christ stop." Jake hissed at the man, who decided to give him a shove with the barrel of his gun at last second. If Jake had tripped, his hand-cuffed hands wouldn't of been able to take the brunt of the impact and was more frustrated over being helpless in that sense. The man let out a chuckle at Jake's clear frustration.

"Thank you Michele, that will be all." said Alrigo, rather dismissively - and with that, he was out of the room.

Jake stood rather awkwardly for a few minutes as Alrigo fiddled with his Blackberry, and after a few minutes, looked up to Jake with amusement.

"My my Mr. Muller, you're quite the attraction!" he said, motioning Jake to sit in the opposite chair, which he accepted.

"What's that suppose to me Al?" he said, more to test his amusement and what Jake could get away with it.

"Well, as i recall, you were under my employment before, correct?" he asked, occasionally glancing at his Blackberry that was now lying in front of him on the table, but otherwise completely focused on Jake.

"Yeah?" Jake shrugged, not really seeing where he was going with this.

"Did you know at that time i had 28 other people with me doing jobs like you? i offered all of them a position with me permanently - paid pretty well - 27 of them accepted."

"And i didn't, whats your point?" he cut in, already bored of the man.

Alrigo took a few minutes to watch Jake and chuckled softly. "My point is why did you take the money and run? am i not a generous man? would i not of given you decent enough pay?" he asked, throwing him a confused but amused look, one that made Jake want to badly roll his eyes, but decided against it.

"Had other things to do, places to be." Jake muttered, now growing tired of the entire _subject_.

"Hmm.. though according to my records, you really.. didn't." he stated, picking up his Blackberry upon hearing a short message tone and began typing out a reply. "From what I've read, you were employed by me, then about 3 different mercenary groups, then the DSO? that's quite a jump Jake. How does a man, completely unqualified such as yourself, get into such an agency?"

"Luck." he deadpanned, now giving one word answers to emphasis how badly he didn't want to talk to him.

He must of picked on it because he shoved his chair back at that moment and leaned over the table, and grabbed a bunch of Jake's shirt and pulled him close.

"You were always one of the more obnoxious little shits I've had to deal with." he spat harshly, though Jake showed no reaction to it, and didn't reply.

He let Jake go moments later, and paced a small ways between the 2 body guards behind him. "You know Jake, i'll be honest for a minute, we need something quite small from you, could you possibly co-operate and do what we ask?"

Jake let out a loud laugh and looked at him in disbelief. "Uh, fuck no?"

"Hmm, i thought id offer the simply option first and foremost. No problem, I've brought a bargaining chip, well 2."

Alrigo Showed Jake the screen of his Blackberry. It showed some kind of video. _Wait.. is that.. _Sherry came into view a few moments later, looking rather exhausted and frustrated. She sat on the floor of some cell with her head down. There was silence, and it unnerved Jake to no end.

"You wouldn't touch her." Jake hissed. "She has G in her system, you fucking need her!"

"Actually, we've extracted everything we need from her, the only reason she's still around is that it was a part of our deal that you see her before she.. is removed."

Jake's eyes went wide and he instantly shot straight up, now fuming, "Removed? what the fuck does that mean?" he asked in disbelief.

"We no longer need her, we've gotten everything we need from her concerning G, why would we allow someone with knowledge of our base to live?" he said nonchalantly. "Well.. aside from entertainment of course, she_ is_ quite cute."

Jake's breath caught in his throat, he couldn't believe he was actually talking about Sherry as if she were as lowly as a sick dog that needed to be put down. The very thought of these men deciding when and where Sherry died sickened him to no end, so much so that he took out his frustration on his pair of handcuffs.

Pulling his hands away from each other, he caused the chains to bend and distort. Alrigo's eyes opened widely at Jake's display of super human strength but to Jake's surprise - did nothing to stop it. In fact, Jake thought that Alrigo looked more interested in it than anything.

Jake thought he felt himself calm down for a moment and felt his power over the cuffs slowly deteriorate, but then allowed Alrigo's words to play in his head.

_'Aside from entertainment of course, She is quite cute.'_ echoed in his head, and made him grit his teeth.

"Nobody uses Sherry as entertainment you sick son of a _bitch!_" Jake roared. The snap of the chains was enough to make Alrigo flinch, and the 2 body guards sprang to life in apprehending him. Both guards had a tough time with it, but eventually managed to pin Jake securely on the table.

Alrigo lowered his face to meet Jake's glare - countering it with a curious stare.

"Interesting, he has the watered down strength of his father. This certainly changes things a bit." he muttered, analyzing Jake closely.

Jake struggled to get out of the guards holds and punch this guy in the face, but the guards weren't making it easy.

"So." he continued "Are we ready to negotiate like adults then, Mr. Muller?"

After a few minutes of struggling, Jake decided it was useless and met Alrigo's eyes. "Fine, what the hell do you want?"

"Tomorrow, we need you to run an endurance test with dear Sherry for a mere hour, you do this, and we will allow her into your cell for the night."

"Fine." he mumbled, feeling utterly defeated, like a pawn in Alrigo's hand. It felt disgusting to say the least.

"And for our second request, we ask that after the test when Nazaire comes to collect her, you make _no_ move to stop him."

"And why the fuck would i let that asshole take her?" he instantly started struggling again. Neither guard saw it coming and nearly even let him go altogether. Alrigo looked visibly exhausted of Jake's futile behaviour.

"Well, its good I've come prepared for this." Alrigo took out his Blackberry once again and showed Jake the screen.

Jake's struggling ceased and interest peaked when he heard what sounded like a recorded call from Alrigo's Blackberry play.

_Hello?_ the recorded voice asked. Jake nearly choked on his own breath when he realized who the voice belonged to.

His mother.

_Misses Muller? it's Nicholas Anderson, with the DSO in the United States, i'm calling on behalf of your son._

Jake struggled furiously when he realized who the second voice belonged to. Nazaire.

_Oh, Of course. Can i help you?_

_We believe you and your son have planned for you to move here next week, and that you're taking flight 105?_

_Yes, if there a problem with that?_

_I'm afraid so. The company we booked your flight with is currently on strike, so we're switching your flight to one that has one stop in Abuja Airport in Africa, and then, of course, JFK in New York, where you'll be getting off._

_That sounds fine with me, I've never seen Africa before!_

_Perfect! though, why don't we keep this a secret? you could call Jake and tell him your flight got cancelled, and you could surprise him!_

"That son of a BITCH!" Jake yelled. "Where the fuck is my mom? what the _fuck_ have you assholes done with my mom?!" Jake was now able to break free of the 2 men and even landed a punch directly in ones face, before the other threw him down on the table once again.

All the while, Alrigo looked rather satisfied with his reaction. "Now Jake, watch that temp-"

"_FUCK YOU!_ where is she? tell me right fucking NOW!" Jake hissed, struggling against the guards and glaring daggers at Alrigo, making him feel slightly intimidated, but he hid it well.

"Co-operate, and we will allow you to see her."

"Tell me what you're going to do to Sherry! i won't do fucking shit until i know Sherry's safe!"

"She'll be safe." he stated, though Jake didn't believe a word.

"Let me go with her!" he roared, now furious with the entire situation.

"Either you let her go on her own, or we outright kill your mother, your decision." Alrigo's playful attitude was now gone, and replaced with a frustrated and unwilling to negotiate attitude that left Jake no choice but to agree.

"Fine.. Fine you asshole! i'll let her.. go herself. I swear to god though, if my mother so much has a scratch on her, i'll make it my personal life goal to give you a slow and painful death." he threatened.

Alrigo simply nodded. "Good luck with that."

and with that, the 2 guards picked Jake up and towed him out the door.

"Good night Mr Muller, don't forget our deal." he chuckled softly as Jake was shoved out of the room.

"Go fuck yourself." he mumbled, which earned him a slap from one of the guards, which Jake decided to glare at the entire walk back to his cell.

* * *

Sherry woke up with a horrible fright when she heard an extremely loud banging on the bars of her cell.

"Get up Birkin." said an angry male voice.

Sherry looked up to see a furious Jake being shoved into the opposite cell, and before she realized it, she was being pulled up roughly and towed out of hers.

"Stop being so fucking rough with her." Jake roared at the guard that was shoving her.

Sherry was barely awake and her eyes were having a hard time staying open as she was shoved out of her cell. The guard must of picked up on how unco-operative her legs were and decided to roughly push her into Jake's cell, nearly resulting in her falling face first into the concrete, though Jake caught her just in time.

"You fucking assholes." Jake hissed at the guards as they locked the cell door and walked away.

Jake glared at them as they walked away, and when he heard the sound of the elevator ding and the doors close, Jake instantly focused all his attention onto the tired and disoriented looking Sherry.

"Sherry are you okay? did they hurt you or do anything to you?" he asked her, sounding a little panicked about how slow she was to react.

"Y-yeah.. just tired." she said, though she was starting to feel more awake when she felt Jake's strong arms hold her close and felt his faint spicy scent fill her senses. Everything about him made her suddenly feel at ease and to her, Jake was the only person in the world to her.

"What did they have you do Sherry?" he asked softly, careful not to raise his voice as she fully woke up.

Sherry yawned and upon looking around, she realized she was sitting in Jake's lap, with her head held against his chest. Sherry blushes when she realized Jake was holding her so closely.

Jake felt the heat radiating from her cheeks and allowed himself to smile ever so slightly. He was happy he could at least make Sherry feel even a little better.

"They just made me run and stuff.." she said with a yawn, stretching her whole body before falling limp into his hold.

"Run? why?"

"I don't know, but i got tired so fast, way too fast.. they injected me with something and apparently its working. I think its the virus that's making me tired."

Sherry felt Jake's eyes on her but she didn't look up, she simply messaged a spot on Jake's shoulder to keep her busy.

"The virus makes you tired easy?" he said as calmly as he could muster, but Sherry could tell he was getting angry all over again.

"That's an affect of it anyway, but i have no idea what its _really_ doing."

"Can't G heal it?" he asked softly.

"I don't know, i assume it is.. or its going to." she murmured, now softly stroking Jake's chest.

They stayed silent for a few minutes, neither really knowing what to say.

"Jake, what are we going to do?" she asked, her voice breaking.

"Tomorrow they want me to do an endurance test with you, we look for an opening, and we run for it."

Sherry pushes herself away from Jake ever so slightly to look up to him, "What? we run?" she asked

Jake gave a sharp nod. "There are guards around that gym right? i'll take out one and take his weapons. If you get injured, G will heal it and i'm built like a tank.. come on Sherry, its all we _can_ do."

Sherry looked at him for a long moment, expecting him to chuckle at say it was a joke, but he didn't.

"Jake.. we can't just-"

"Look i know its not the best plan, but its the only opportunity we'll get." he said, looking quite serious.

Sherry didn't feel at all confident in this rather crude plan, but Jake was right - If either got injured, it wouldn't be as fatal as a normal person getting injured, and they were both specially trained for this. Jake's super human strength was also a plus.

Feeling a little more confident in the plan, Sherry nodded and smiled. "Okay Jake, lets do it, together."

Jake hesitated for a long moment, and before Sherry could ask if he was alright, he leaned forward into Sherry and claimed Sherry's lips in one swift motion.

Sherry's eyes went wide and she blushed furiously from the warm and soft peck. The contact reminded her of the night Jake had moved into his new apartment and they had kissed after a movie. The kiss had felt spontaneous and full of nerves, and even though Jake put up a strong and confident front, she could tell he was unsure if the kiss had been the right move.

Then there was the kiss the night Jake had drunkenly dragged her to his apartment and shared a drunken series of kisses. The kisses at the time had felt rushes and full of need, and yet strangely empty. Though this kiss felt more sincere.. it felt warm and loving, and Sherry didn't want to be the one to pull away from it.

Before Jake went too far and attempted to deepen the kiss - which would most likely lead to other things - he slowly pulled away from her and saw how red her cheeks were.

"Hey.. are you okay?" Jake asked softly.

Sherry snapped our of her daze and blushed even more from the embarrassment, and caught Jake subtly smirking at her. "Y.. yeah." she finally got out.

Jake nodded and held Sherry closer to him. "Whatever happens tomorrow Sherry, i'm getting you out of here." he whispered in her ear.

Sherry slowly nodded and clung to him all the more closely. "Yeah.. we'll do this together." she mumbled.

Jake gently rubbed Sherry's upper back and before he knew it, Sherry was dozing off on his chest.

_I'll get you out of here Sherry.. you and mom._ Resting his head on top of hers, he thought this would be a sleepless night, too afraid to take his eye off Sherry, but her hair was so soft to the touch, that the minute his head had contact with hers, his eyes automatically shut.

Though just before he fell fully asleep, he made sure to keep an extremely tight hold on Sherry, for fear someone may take her away in the night.

He woke up nearly once an hour in the night to make sure she was still there, and hoped to god the morning would never come, because having Sherry in his arms that night felt more right than anything had in his entire life.

It was then, at around 4 am when he woke up around the 6th time to check on Sherry, that he realized that he didn't simply care for Sherry - he loved her, and knew he'd gladly spend the rest of his life with her, keeping her safe and protecting her.

_When we get out of here, i'll tell you everything Sherry, absolutely everything._

* * *

**God i'm so sorry this took so long! what a hectic month - between feeling awfully sick the past week, getting The Last of Us and Animal Crossing, I've been busy busy!**

**ooooo just a couple more chapters now, thanks so much for all the support and reviews! i'm sorry i don't really reply to them! I read every single one though, and they always make me smile! so thanks for finding the time to always leave them guys!**

**Hope this is okay, even if its a little shorter than i wanted! enjoy heheh, and again, sorry for the wait! i hope i can get up the next chapter sooner than how long this took LOL**

**R&R if you have the time and such!**


	15. Chapter 15

The next morning, at around 8 am, Jake found himself to be wide awake, holding a fast asleep Sherry Birkin in his lap as tightly against his chest as he could.

Wether that was for Sherry's benefit or Jake's security, he had no clue.

He knew the officers would come soon to take Sherry, and that it was expected of him not to move a muscle when they did, or else he'd risk his mothers life - something he'd promised himself he would never do, no matter what the cause.

Jake felt Sherry readjust herself ever so slightly against him and as she let out a soft sigh, Jake couldn't help but stroke her hair, ushering her to sleep and stay in such a peaceful state for as long as possible.

Jake found that with every sound that he heard in the prison - be it the short static over an intercom off in the distance or the occasional sound of a rat shuffling through the halls, it made him flinch, praying to god it wasn't a guard coming for Sherry.

He knew he would see Sherry again shortly - for that Endurance exam or whatever. He knew Alrigo wouldn't dare leave Sherry and Jake with only a few mere guards to look after them; Jake was expecting the best of the best as soon as they arrived in that gym.

Jake had told Sherry the original plan - to shoot their way out - but he couldn't risk his mothers life. He decided that if he saw the opportunity, he'd get Sherry out of there, and go back for his mother, because he sure as hell wasn't going to leave her behind.

Jake loved Sherry, she made him realize he could feel things he'd never really felt for anyone aside from his mother, but he could never willingly run off with Sherry if it meant leaving his mother in any kind of danger. His bastard of a father never took care of either of them, and Jake had quickly assumed the position of looking after his mother and keep her safe.

_If i can just save the both of them, i'll spend the rest of my life watching over them._

Jake suddenly felt Sherry's warm hand remove itself from his chest and gently move up to rub Sherry's eye as she yawned, now awake.

"Hey Supergirl." he whispered, keeping his voice low just in case Sherry fell back asleep.

Sherry nodded and smiled, slowly peeling her eyes open. "Did you really keep us on the cold concrete floor all night?" she said, almost amused by the very thought.

"The 'bed' has nothing but lose springs - trust me, sleeping on the floor is an improvement." he stated, stretching ever so slightly, sighing with happiness as he felt his back crack from being kept in the same position for so long.

Sherry could only giggle and decided to stand up, figuring that she probably wasn't helping how stiff Jake was feeling. Jake stood up beside her and ever to subtly shuffled to stand closer to her.

Sherry walked up to the door to see if she could see any security or anything walking the halls, but it was dead silent. Shrugging, she started to pace the cell uncomfortably.

"So are we.. really going to just shoot it out?" Sherry asked, now feeling her uncertainty creep back.

"What else is there Sherry? The only time you've been let out of here is for those.. tests or whatever, and I've never been with you. This will be probably the only time we're together, we need to take the opportunity."

Sherry took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay.. "

Feeling slightly guilty that he couldn't offer Sherry any comforting words concerning their - to put it mildly - hasty plan, he decided to pull her into a hug, feeling that it would tell her that he was going to be there to protect her and that she had no reason to worry when he was there.

"Just.. don't worry." he whispered, making Sherry feel that little bit more secure, and lean into his chest to return the warm hug.

"How cute."

Sherry instantly pulled away from the hug and the couple snapped their attention to the source of the voice. Jake grunted at the source.

_Nazaire, who fucking else?_

"Are we done?" Nazaire asked after a few moments of silence between the 3. "I'm on a schedual." he motioned 2 guards to move into the cell and get Sherry. Sherry suddenly paled and looked as stiff as a board. Seeing the fear in Jakes eyes, he couldn't help but instinctively pull her back to him, holding her with one arm around her waist.

"W-wait." Jake butted in. "Can i at least walk up with her? i wont.. do anything." he almost pleaded with Nazaire and the 2 guards that had now stopped and were looking towards Nazaire for guidance.

"Afraid not Jake, wouldn't want to get dear Miranda hurt now would you?" he said, looking a little annoyed with how Jake hadn't let Sherry go yet.

"M-miranda? your mom?"Sherry asked, looking panicked at the mention of Jake's mother, knowing all too well that Jake was now stuck in a hard place while they used his mother as leverage. "You bastards.. you'd actually take a poor innocent woman and blackmail Jake with her?" she barely whispered, in complete disbelief.

Nazaire shrugged. "Alrigo was the one who had the idea, i am merely an enforcer of sorts." Nazaire's phone suddenly buzzed and upon taking it out, his expression slightly soured. "Hmmm, Alrigo is many things, but a patient man is certainly not one of them." he stated, shoving his phone back into his pocket and motioning the guards to get Sherry.

She was reluctant at first but then stepped away from Jake towards the guards. Jake reached up to grab her arm, at which the 2 guards reacted immediately, taking out their guns and aiming them directly at Jake's head, but he didn't care.

"Sherry, just.. " he said, suddenly wanting to say so much and yet nothing at all. Sherry's lips twitched in a smile and she nodded, "I know Jake." she said, before turning and walking with the guards.

The loud slam of the cells door was enough to make him scream, but he managed to contain it. Just barely.

Nazaire let the 2 guards take Sherry away to the elevator on ahead of him, and walked slowly towards the cell with a triumphant smirk.

"Now now Jake, that wasn't so hard now was it?" he practically chuckled at Jake's clear pain.

"I'm doing the endurance thing _with_ Sherry, why couldn't we walk up together?" he asked, barely able to contain his growing anger.

Alrigo turned around, pacing a short distance in the hall. "See Jake, there is a method in our madness. While our guards could over power you or Sherry in a controlled environment, we're not so confident when you two are_ together_ walking our halls. See, separately you both have overwhelming pros and then overwhelming cons - such as Sherry's ability to heal so quickly and yet her lack of strength, or your Strength and yet your _overwhelmingly_ huge ego that makes you believe you're indestructible." Alrigo almost laughed at the last part of his sentence.

"For now, we need to keep you two divided in our facilities.. lets say more weak spots. Clear?"

"Crystal." Jake grunted. "Though Sherry's a lot stronger than you think."

"Oh is that so? well you'll be pleasantly surprised at today's endurance exam today then!"

"What the fuck is that suppose to mean?" Jake barked, now getting extremely agitated by Nazaire's stupidly happy attitude.

Nazaire started walking up the hall towards the elevator, completely ignoring Jake, but slowed his pace ever so slightly to turn back to him, flashing that agrivating smirk just to tick Jake off that bit more.

"The almighty Alrigo will be down soon for you, play nice." he said, chuckling softly at Jake's clear annoyance and strode towards the elevator, to leave the now fuming Jake alone with his thoughts.

_I can't wait to ring your neck you son of a bitch._

* * *

After about 20 minutes, Alrigo showed up in front of Jake's cell. Neither spoke a word to each other as a guard Alrigo had brought with him opened Jake's cell and let him out.

The 3 men walked up the hell in complete silence, as Jake knew to fight back to utterly useless._ Wait for the opportunity.._

"Would you like to see your dear mother Jake?" Alrigo asked as they waiting for the elevator.

Jake was slightly taken aback by his words. In the 20 minutes he was left alone, he thought about asking to see his mother, but highly doubt they'd allow it, considering they wouldn't even let him _walk_ with Sherry.

"Whats the catch?" Jake asked suspiciously. Alrigo twitched a smile and shook his head. "Why are you so suspicious of me Jake? Is it because i wouldn't allow you walk your girlfriend to the gym?" he said chuckling.

Sighing, Jake swallowed his pride. "Yes, i'd like to see her.. "

Alrigo hummed with approval. "My, so much friendlier towards me now, could we be possibly becoming friends?"

"I wouldn't count on it." snapped Jake.

Alrigo leaned closer to one of his guards so whisper something in his ear - something that Jake couldn't make out - and in an instant, Alrigo pushes a button the elevator and the doors slowly opened up.

Alrigo motioned Jake to follow but the guard stayed put. _Weird. _

"I trust you will behave under my watch? If not, i will simply punish your mother instead of you." he stated simply, walking down the long hall, taking a few turns here and there that had Jake completely lost and sure if he _did_ manage to break away from Alrigo, he would of been completely lost. Jake simply dipped his head at Alrigo, silently assuring him that Jake understood.

After taking about 2 more turns and walking down to a dead end hall with about 3 doors, Alrigo cleared his throat at a steel door with a small covered over window.

Jake walked over and brushed his fingers on the door handle, and quickly snapped them away hearing the click of a gun. Looking up, he saw the gun was aimed directly for Jake's head.

"But you sa-"

"You may talk to your mother by staying out here looking into the room, but i'd prefer if you two were separate for the moment."

Jake slowly nodded and stared at the small window, slowly pulling back a small handle on it to reveal a figure lying on a bed at the back of the small room. Miranda Muller was wrapped in a light blue blanket and all Jake could see of her was her long red hair, but seeing his mother safe did very little to comfort him.

"I want to make sure she isn't hurt." Jake whispered, afraid to alert his mother of his presence just yet.

"I have not laid a finger on her Jake, she is fine, just tired." he assured. Jake stood motionless for a minute, seeing his mother lying the bed, not even looking over to see him. Alrigo simply stood beside him, playing with his phone

"M-mom?" Jake asked, just barely speaking above a whisper.

"Jake.." she barely whispered, not moving an inch in her bed.

"Mom are you okay? have they hurt you? i swear to god if they have.." he mumbled, tears threatening to break over how terrified he was for his mothers safety.

"Don't hurt him.. please don't touch him.." she mumbled, so quietly that Jake nearly didn't hear it.

"What?" Jake asked, confused by her words.

"We wont, Miss Muller." Alrigo spoke up, but not looking away from his phone.

"Mom don't worry about me! have they hurt you?" Jake was now desperate, having a sinking feeling that they had done something to her.

"No.. No!" she almost yelled back. Jake flinched, sensing she was possibly angry with Jake for asking.. but why?

"Miss Muller, we need to be off, i have just been informed that your sons girlfriend is getting a little restless on the upper levels." he said, slowly shutting the windows cover. She didn't move an inch.

"M-mom i'll be back! don't worry!" he yelled before the window shutter closed all the way.

Alrigo simply walked towards the elevator looking mildly amused with Jake, which both confused and angered him.

"Now, i've been kind, allowing you to see your mother, so i'll ask you that you return the favor in the gym and help Sherry."

Jake leaned against the wall of the elevator as it ascended, and nodded towards Alrigo. "Yeah, whatever."

Alrigo smiled. "My, you certainly are learning fast how things will be run here."

* * *

"You bastard!" Sherry roared at Nazaire, who had Sherry's arms pinned against a wall. "How dare you!"

Nazaire chuckled at Sherry's attempt to kick him or squirm out of his hold. "I speak nothing but the truth my dear! Why would i have any reason to lie?"

"Let me go you asshole!" Sherry roared, tears now forming in her eyes.

"Hey! let her go!" Jake yelled from across the gym, running over to stop Nazaire. Alrigo looked less than impressed with Nazaire from what Sherry could see.

Nazaire quickly let Sherry go and threw his arms up in defense to Jake. "Relax, relax, we were just chatting."

Alrigo walked over and glared at Nazaire. "About what Nazaire?"

Nazaire looked a little frightened by Alrigo's monotone voice, but tried his best to hide it. "I was just telling her about the night of her fathers assassination."

Jake looked a little shocked, and turned to see Sherry had paled and hung her head, not meeting anyone's eyes. Jake stared daggers at Nazaire, "You assassinated her father?" he asked, trying to sound as calm as possible but the venom in his words seeped through.

"No, agent Hunk did, but i was his assistant at the time, i helped locate the rat." he said, sounding rather bored.

"Do _not_ call my father a rat!" Sherry yelled, straightening up to tackle him, but Jake held her back.

"_ENOUGH!_" Alrigo yelled over them all, which made everyone flinch and immediately cease all of their actions.

Alrigo quickly strode over to Nazaire and grabbed his Neck, picking him up from the ground, ignoring his struggle to breathe. "Nazaire, you know better than to purposely torment her, do you want our exam today to _fail?_"

Nazaire quickly shook his head and Alrigo threw him down on the hard wooden floor. Sherry and Jake both cringed at the sound the crash made. _That sounded painful._

"Now!" said Nazaire, clapping his hands together and then rubbing them together with a smile, ignoring Nazaire's gulps for air. "Shall we get to the exam?"

Sherry still looked pale but Jake quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She looked up to him looking a little lost and confused by it all, but all Jake could so was nod at her, to which she smiled and nodded back, subtly understanding that Jake was trying to remind her that he was there now, and wouldn't let anything happen to her.

##

Nazaire had them running laps at first, which barely made Jake break a sweat, but Sherry was sweating buckets by there 3rd lap around the perimeter of the gym.

"Sherry, whats going on?" Jake asked, easing his run to a soft jog in order to stay with Sherry.

Sherry was gasping for air and swiftly shook her head, "I'm fine!" she protested, and took off running.

Nazaire stopped there running as soon as Sherry and Jake ran a 4th lap, and paired them up for some hand-to-hand combat. Jake was on the defensive, instructed to take all of Sherry's punches and kicks, and to not fight back.

Sherry very quickly tired of it; each kick and punch knocked the wind out of her and after Nazaire informed the pair to stop, Sherry fell to her knees, her breathing laboured.

All the while, Alrigo couldn't of looked more happy. Jake slowly picked up Sherry, and gently rubbed her back. "Easy Sherry easy... calm down or you'll never catch your breath."

Jake's heart nearly stopped when he saw tears spill from Sherry's eyes. "Why can't i do this!" she whined, wiping her tears away.

"Because." said Alrigo, walking over to them with a children grin plastered on his face, which infuriated the pair. "The virus was a complete success!"

"W-what does that mean?" Sherry asked, barely able to stand up by herself.

"The virus i injected dear Sherry with has successfully killed off the G-virus in her system."

* * *

"Chris, is Jill finished?" asked Leon, looking quite uncomfortable sitting in a large ditch near a forest in the very back of the facility that was keeping Jake and Sherry, or so their GPS said.

Chris held his finger up to his ear, pressing a button a small ear piece. "Jill? is everything finished?"

Static was heard on the other line for a few moments, making Chris feel incredibly worried.

_"You owe me for this Redfield, you know i'm not meant to be out in the field right now!"_

Chris chuckled at her tone, "Sorry Jill but you're the best with bombs! besides you've got my best men covering you, there's nothing to worry about, so.. are they all rigged?"

Jill sighed on the other line. _"Yes, yes everything's finished. Meet me at the south wall in 5 minutes and i'll hand over the detonator."_

"Perfect, thanks Jill, over."

Leon was about to sit up to get over to the south wall with Chris but his own ear piece came on.

_"Leon, its Anita, we've picked up random chatter from the security inside the facility - as far as i can tell, Sherry and Jake are currently in the south wing, in some sort of gym."_

Leon and Chris looked at each other and shared a smirk. "Thanks Anita, that's perfect."

_"We've gotten in contact with Hunnigan and i've informed her of you and Chris' position, as well as Jake and Sherry's too."_

Leon couldn't help but smirk. "Oh boy, what did she say?"

Anita was quiet for a few moments, but then spoke up. _"Uh.. she said you need to save Jake so she can personally tell him hes no longer an agent at the DSO."_

Leon's smirk faded and so did Chris'. Before Chris could voice his opinion on Hunnigan's unfair decision, Leon spoke up. "Alright, will do. Over."

"Leon.. Hunnigan isn't seriously going t-"

"Relax Chris, Hunnigan is just all pissed now because communications have been out and Jake _seemingly_ ran off - i'll explain everything to her, Jake isn't going anywhere as long as i can help it.. hopefully."

Chris nodded reluctantly. "Right.. okay, we better not keep Jill waiting, as soon as she hands off the detonator she needs to be on the first plane back to the US."

"Jill can take care of herself Chris.. whats going on?" Leon asked, sounding a little confused by Chris' seemingly pointless concern.

"I'll tell you when we get back, we need to focus on Jake and Sherry right now." Chris said, sitting up to a crouched position with Leon followed, swiftly moving through the bushes, using the cover of the looming wood to their advantage.

As they made there way towards the previously mentioned wall, they caught a glimpse of Jill, decked out in her BSAA uniform of her ear piece, navy cap, blue zip up shirt, fingerless leather gloves, off-white pants and black boots.

"Jill, do you have it?" Chris asked as they came up the side of her. Jill nodded and handed over a small detonator to Chris, who passed it over to Leon as Chris asked for the van to be brought around to collect Jill.

"Sure you'll be okay?" Jill asked, now sounding a little unsure about leaving the pair.

Chris smirked and pulled her into a hug. "You can't be here when things get rough, you need to get back okay? we'll be fine."

Jill gently kissed Chris on the cheek and nodded, "Okay guys, good luck getting them back."

"Lucks got nothing to do with it" said Leon confidently.

Jill rolled her eyes and fell back into the woods, to run towards the main road to find the BSAA marked van.

"Ready?" Chris asked, keeping an eye out on the main building and the Gym they were now dangerously closed to.

Leon's finger slowly traced the detonators button and he nodded.

"Detonation in 3.. 2.. 1.."

* * *

**Sorry for uploading this so late! yada yada you know the drill!**

**Hope this was more or less worth the wait eheh ; v; thanks for all the support and reviews, i really appreciate it!**


	16. Chapter 16

Sherry felt as if the world had stopped turning, and all she could hear at that moment was her own thumping heart going a mile a minute as she tried to process this.

"K-killed the G-Virus?" whispered Sherry in pure disbelief. "B.. but.. why.. "

"So it can't be used against me, of course." said Nazaire, sounding rather bored with the subject. "I've taken samples of your virus and blood though, so i can claim it for myself." he finished with a positively cheerful smile.

Nazaire's words ripped her apart. He had killed an actual part of her, and planned to claim it for himself, and just the thought of someone claiming her gift for themselves was enough to make her want to lash out violently.

"G was the last gift my father ever gave me, and its saved my life countless times.. and now.. " Sherry had to muster all of her strength not to let tears fall, and if someone didn't say something soon to break her concentration, she was sure she'd do something she'd sorely regret.

"You son of a bitch!" Jake roared as he went to punch Nazaire. A body guard had gotten in the way but the punch never had time to even get close to him.

A loud explosion had sent everyone a few feet back and on the ground, leaving the group stunned and more than a little annoyed. As Sherry slowly rose to her knees, she felt blood trickle on her neck. Slightly panicked, she put a hand on the back of head and felt something warm and wet, and upon inspecting her hand, she saw blood.

She froze the minute she saw the blood smeared on her hand, though was thankful that it appeared to be a simple flesh wound and nothing more as she could move just fine and wasn't dizzy at all. Looking to her left she saw Jake on his back, rubbing his head while cursing violently. She was relieved to see that he wasn't at least knocked unconscious.

And looking directly behind her, she saw that the gym now had a massive gaping hole in its wall, leaving the welcoming outside world completely exposed. Debrée and fire littered the area around the hole and although Sherry knew she wouldn't heal from the flames as quick as she would of with the G-Virus (If at all, depending on how bad the burn.) she was so very tempted to make a run for it and take her chances, though just as she was about to stand and signal to Jake, she saw body guards flock into the room and knew it would be stupid to even try it.

Nazaire was the first on his feet, absolutely livid with what had just transpired.

"That bomb was scheduled to go off _tonight! _Not right now._ TONIGHT!_" He roared as body guards and what looked to be a medic ran over to him, though Sherry saw no need for a medic for Nazaire, since he seemed fine save for the few scratches on his face and arms. "You absolutely incompetent, sorry excuse for staff!" he continued as a medic approached him and began cleaning his minor wounds.

"Sir, t-that wasn't one of our own bombs! we only deploy our own once we've secured the next warehouse and have our lab packed away, which we haven't yet!" one man said frantically as he surveyed the damage with a visible cringe.

Nazaire's anger slowly turned more sinister as his breathing slowed and he glared maliciously at the poor guy. "Then whose bomb was it, C_hief?_" he spat, looking about as friendly as a raw piece of meat to a starving lion.

"We don't know! We have security rewinding security tapes as we speak but they haven't reported anything yet!" The man was panicking, and Sherry felt a twinge of sympathy for him, though it was fleeting. Hell, what do you expect when you work for people like these? They're nut jobs with deep pockets who are more than willing to employ researchers that never bite the hand that feed them, and frankly, Sherry felt like this was all karma catching up with him.

"Nazaire. Report." came the smooth voice of Alrigo from Nazaire's walkie talkie attached to his belt. He grunted and after a few seconds, took the small device from his hip and replied. "Explosion happened here at the gym." he quickly glanced at Jake, who was helping up Sherry. "No casualties." he finished.

"Good. Return Jake to his cell, and bring Sherry to me. We leave in 2 hours, so you may give Chief White the affirmative to hand over the self destruct to you as Chief White clearly cannot control his own explosives. I trust two hours will be sufficient enough time to wait."

Nazaire was silent for a few moments but then finally spoke. "Uh.. alright, but do we leave Jake in the cells and leave? and do we even have a new location set?"

"Yes. It would be easier for us, and everyone, if the boy perished here. With his strength, he could become a thorn in our side far too quickly. As for Sherry, we're only taking her as a sort of fail safe, in the case that we get caught by some incredible feat and need a hostage of some sort. She wont see the end of the day either way."

This was not Alrigo's style at all. He was never this sloppy and rushed about moving the operation. He had always given the staff at least 24 hours notice of self destruction's, and had always given 48 hours for lab pack up, as the lab needed to be packed, cleaned, checked for any left behind evidence, and destroyed first to ensure the BSAA or DSO never found anything while snooping. As for taking a hostage? that was _definitely not_ Alrigo's style. That was a desperate and messy move to make, something that could easily go wrong.

The explosion must of been more serious than Nazaire had expected.

"Alright." he sighed, and walked over to Chief White to request the detonator, but before Nazaire had even opened his mouth, the man handed over the small white device with a black button on top and quickly ran out of there.

"As for S-" in the distance, Nazaire heard a loud second explosion.

Though it was not in the gym, it wasn't far. He guessed it was more towards the front of the building, and the fact that there was a second explosion made something inside him snap. "Alrigo, did you hear that?" he hissed into the walkie talkie, but all he got was static back. _Piece of shit!_

Glaring viciously towards the closest bodyguard, he cursed loudly. "And why the _fuck_ are you all standing around like brain dead children?! _GET. MOVING!_" And with that, all bodyguards scrambled with their tails between their legs to escape the unforgiving wrath that was Nazaire. And they thought Alrigo was scary. Truth be told, he was an absolute nightmare come to life when angry, but thankfully, he rarely lost his temper. His staff were so scared of him that they pretty much tiptoed around the man.

"You! Dunne! get back here!" Nazaire called and one of the many bodyguards, and in the midst of the scrambling group, one man stopped in his tracks and jogged back to him. "Get Sherry to Alrigo, i need to get Jake back to his cell."

"Jake?!" Sherry called out desperately as the man grabbed her from behind and shoved her towards the door. She quickly thrashed about, attempting to get out of the mans hold, but it was proving to be useless fast.

Although Jake's head was throbbing from the blast and his ears were still ringing. "Hey asshole!" he called, quickly reacting by punching the bodyguard across the face and using his stumble to grab Sherry and quickly usher her behind him for safety. Sherry growled ever so slightly at how easily she had let herself be grabbed but she was caught off guard, a mistake she would not be making twice.

Nazaire shook his head and quickly strode over to Jake. "I swear to god Jake, i am _BEYOND_ the point of patience for you and that woman!" he roared, approaching Jake with a glare, looking ready to punch him as soon as he got the chance. Not willing to back down from either the fuming Nazaire or the now re-approaching Bodyguard, he firmly stood his ground and whispered to Sherry. "Look at the hole in the building."

"W-wha.. ?" Sherry whispered back, quickly whipping her head to the left, and spied a familiar cocky smirk and trusty RCPD body armor. Leon never did go on missions without it. She mentally slapped herself and quickly looked away, using all her might not to smile with the relief she suddenly felt. "When did.. ?"

"I saw him while Nazaire was talking to who ever on the talkie, when i give the signal, run to him." he quickly whispered back, gripping her hand and giving it a tight reassuring squeeze before she could argue about it. "Do not argue right now Sherry, just run when i let go."

Taking in a sharp breath, all she could do was silently agree. Besides, it was Jake after all. With Leon outside, that meant that the BSAA must have an all out army outside, so these idiots were both outnumbered and outsmarted. She allowed herself a small smirk of triumph but quickly wiped it away as the two fuming men stood directly in front of Jake, attempting to use their heights as an intimidation method, though it was quickly forgotten when Jake didn't even flinch.

"Move." Nazaire hissed, his voice dripping with venom. Jake remained silent, his feet planted firmly on the ground. "MOVE!" He roared, though it did little to intimidate him.

Out of patience, Nazaire quickly pulled out his gun. Upon seeing the shine off the weapon, he quickly let go of Sherry's hand and shoved her towards Leon and the BSAA. "Do not turn around Sherry, just go!" he urged, quickly turning back to Nazaire who was now taking aim at Sherry. He missed by mere inches as Jake had tackled him to the ground, and they were now wrestling for control of it.

The bodyguard looked from the two men to Sherry and quickly made the decision to get her. Letting out a short _Eep!_ sound, Sherry quickly dashed for the hole in the wall, not once turning to see how close the bodyguard was to her. The bodyguard was quickly gaining on her, but she didn't allow that to stop her or slow her down. As she pushed herself to the very limit to get all the way to the bottom of the gym, both Leon and Chris popped out from the huge hole and aimed their guns.

Leon was the first to move, and he quickly ran up to Sherry to meet her half way. The bodyguard quickly realized that there was no way that it could end well for him if he continued chasing her, so he quickly dashed off and ran through the double doors, leading out of the gym. "Coward." Chris mumbled. "Nothing more than a hired gun."

Sherry was gasping for air when Leon approached her, and honestly, he was generally surprised. Sherry had ran much farther, much faster for much longer during her training days and field missions. Was she really _this_ tired after running across a gym? Mentally shrugging, he walked up to Sherry and pulled her into a hug, sighing with relief upon seeing that she seemed relatively okay aside from her being out of breath.

"Sherry, are you alright? do you need a medic?" he asked, and in the corner of her eye, he saw Chris run towards Nazaire and Jake, who were all the way at the bottom of the gym.

"No.. b-but my G-Virus is gone.." she gasped out, and Leon saw tears form in her eyes.

"Wait.. gone?" he asked in shock. _Gone? what the hell does that mean?_

"The scientists here, they took a sample of my G-Virus and then killed it off so it couldn't be used against them!"

Leon's eyes widened in horror. From the case files he had read on these guys, they had been collecting samples of viruses, sometimes from stolen labs, sometimes from people (Very rarely though) and none of those people had ever actually come back alive before they torched their facility and moved on. Once they had what they needed, they lost interest. Though Leon could hardly believe her ears as she processed Sherry's words.

"So we-"

A gunshot rang through the room.

Chris was only a few steps away from Nazaire and Jake who were on the ground, both completely still.

Sherry heard her heart speed up as she waited for some sort of reaction from one of them. She slowly took a few steps towards the two but stopped immediately when she heard Jake grunt and roll over to the floor, his shoulder drenched in blood.

"Jake!" Sherry shouted across the gym, and before she could stop herself, she was running at full speed towards him. She nearly screamed with frustration as she felt Leon easily catch up with and grab her from behind, preventing her from taking another step. "Leon! Let me-"

Leon quickly placed a hand over Sherry's mouth and within a few seconds, she calmed down and refocused on the scene in front of her, and didn't like what she saw. Jake was writhing in pain on the floor beside Nazaire, who came to a stand with a gun pointed directly at Chris, and some sort of detonator in hand.

"Anyone moves a muscle, i shoot you without hesitation." Nazaire growled.

Trained in hostage situations, Chris nodded and slowly holstered his own gun, gently patting the pocket behind it and feeling a little more happy knowing his knife was there. "Look, if you leave us with Jake, we'll be out of here instantly." Chris said as calmly as possible.

"Jake, get up." Nazaire demanded, not once looking away from Chris. He knew that the agent he entered with wouldn't try anything foolish in the case that it'd get Chris shot, so he didn't allow himself to look away from him.

"Fuck you." Jake gasped over the horrendous pain in his shoulder, though he could feel his body very slowly healing him. That earned him a sharp kick in the side that sent him straight back onto his stomach, groaning with pain as he felt the wound tear open more from the kick. "_Get up!_" he roared once again.

"Sir, we wont have any furth-"

"Shut up!" he shouted at Chris, waiting impatiently for Jake to get to his feet. "Damn BSAA, always sticking your filthy noses where they don't belong - you only see evil in viruses, we see potential!" As Jake slowly rose up, Nazaire grabbed his right arm and roughly pulled him out of the gym. Jake, having been blinded by the blinding pain, was much too focused on hissing with the pain than to stop Nazaire in anyway. He was a glaring weakness for the group right now and he knew it. _Sorry guys._

"Do _NOT_ try and follow us! i have both a gun and detonator to the entire building, so it'd be in everyone's best interest if you both crawled back into your hole!" he hissed, shoving Jake through the double doors and taking off down the hall.

"We have to go after them!" Sherry said frantically to Leon who had only now let her go. Leon suddenly looked exhausted. "Leon, did they do anything to her?" Chris asked quietly as he approached the two, his eyes never leaving the double doors.

"They killed off the G-Virus and took a sample for themselves." he said, cringing as Chris' face slowly turned to them and his expression went from shock to pure rage.

"Those fucking bastards!" he shouted, taking out his hand gun to check ammo and quickly nodded upon clicking it back in. "Leon, get Sherry to the medics outside to make sure shes okay and wont mutate, bastards here probably wouldn't of cared if she did."

He nodded, although was quite hesitant. "You're not seriously about to go after him alone, are you?" he asked in astonishment at the very idea.

Chris stood still for a moment, contemplating the best way to word this so Leon wouldn't try to stop him from going. Perhaps a little white lie would work, besides, it was in everyone's best interest that Leon didn't fight right now. Sherry needed an emergency check up and honestly, more men for Chris would only make this situation stickier than it had to be.

"The men who caused the explosion out front are meeting me inside Leon, no need to add to the numbers. At this point, we need to get in and out, then detonate the rest of the explosives." He said flatly, leaving no room for argument. "Get Sherry to Rebecca and leave Jake to me."

"You have 20 minutes, and then i'm coming to get your sorry ass." Leon stated, nodding to Chris with approval. He wanted to go with him, but Sherry was a priority right now, and needed to be seen by Rebecca and the other medics. Besides, Chris has been in much worse situations over the years.

Deciding that Chris would be just fine, he picked Sherry up bridal style and ran off out of the building into the field that lied just outside, jumped over the wall and after another 5 minutes of high speed running, came upon 2 medium sized vans and what Sherry could only assume was the medical staff. (as none looked to be soldiers.) They all looked fairly jumpy as the minute they heard Leon approaching, they had all instinctively went for their weapons, but let out a sigh of relief upon seeing him and the newly rescued Sherry.

Eyeing Leon curiously, Rebecca stood up to meet them at eye level. "Were you followed?" Rebecca whispered. Leon gently set Sherry down and shook his head. "I sprinted across the field and took the long way here, so i highly doubt it. Besides, its chaos in there, no way anyone was even paying attention."

Rebecca nodded and dropped her gaze to Sherry and smiled warmly. "Welcome back Sherry, do you need to see any of the medical staff?"

"About that.. " Leon began. _Its going to be a long day._

* * *

As Chris jogged down the seemingly endless halls littered with identical door after door, he became more and more frustrated, near convinced he was running in circles around the god forsaken building.

Coming to a complete stop, he allowed his ears to do some work and listened for any out of place sounds in the hall, but when he heard nothing he cursed violently and dashed off again down another corridor, only to repeat this action every time he came to a halfway point in any given hallway.

Nazaire had dragged Jake into a closet, visibly fuming. He had lost Sherry. _No matter, Alrigo only wanted her to play the hostage, he'll do fine._ He thought as he held his handgun to Jake's back, smiling faintly at how obedient and silent he was.

Almost too silent though for a man that couldn't even be told to go into his owl cell without a huge fight breaking out.

Becoming paranoid, he quickly checked the ammo left in his gun and saw it was empty. Seeing his opportunity, Jake quickly elbowed Nazaire in the face and used his break in offence to burst out the closet door, only to violently shove the closet door back in his face, and badly distorting the doors handle so he couldn't leave, and running off down the hall.

Grunting from how painful and torn up his shoulder felt, he cradled the arm in his other for a moment before shaking it off and continuing his jog down the hall. He was pretty mad at himself that he hadn't shouted for Chris, because he probably knew the place inside out.

Feeling like a lost child in a super market, he became desperate: looking for any signs or help centers, though was dismayed to find none. _Just my luck._

Though as he took about 2 rights and a left, he noticed a familiar iron door and his heart clenched in his throat.

* * *

**_Mom._**

**Chapter is much shorter and more different than i thought it'd be but rest assured there's more to come. I find that at moments like these its best to think of the next chapter for a while before acting on it, because the story may suffer because of that.**

**Sorry it took so long to get this out! like i said before, this story was being put on hiatus while i put a good dent in Hope - which i did (and i'm not finished either btw) so i thought i'd throw out another chapter of KaL.**

**Hope you enjoyed it despite it being a bit short! sorry for any grammar mistakes etc**


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